Emissive surfaces and workspaces method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A conferencing arrangement and method for sharing information within a conference space, the arrangement comprising a common presentation surface positioned within the conference space, the common presentation surface including a presentation surface area, a common presentation surface driver, a system processor linked to the driver, the system processor receiving information content and presenting the information content via the common presentation surface and a user interface device including a device display screen and a device processor, the device processor programmed to provide a dynamic interface via the device display screen that is usable to create an arbitrary number of distinct sharing spaces on the presentation surface area for sharing information content and to automatically modify the interface to include features for controlling content presented in the sharing spaces as the number of distinct sharing spaces is altered.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/159,589 which was filed on Jan. 21, 2014 which is titled“Emissive Shapes And Control Systems” and also claims priority therethrough to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/756,753 which wasfiled on Jan. 25, 2013 which is titled “Emissive Shapes And ControlSystems” and claims priority to provisional U.S. patent application No.61/886,235 which was filed on Oct. 3, 2013 which is titled “EmissiveSurfaces And Workspaces Method And Apparatus” as well as to U.S.provisional patent application No. 61/911,013 which was filed on Dec. 3,2013 which is titled “Curved Display And Curved Display Support”, eachof which is incorporated herein in its entirety be reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to large electronic informationpresentation surfaces and more specifically to large surfaces and waysof controlling information presented on those surfaces that facilitatevarious work and information sharing activities.

People have been conferencing in many ways for thousands of years toshare information and to learn from each other in various settingsincluding business, educational and social settings. Relatively recentlytechnology has evolved that enables people to share information in newand particularly useful ways. For instance, computers and videoprojectors have been developed in the past few decades that enable aninformation presenter to display computer application content in a largepresentation format to conferees in conference or other spaces. In thesecases, a presenter's computer (e.g., often a personal laptop) running anapplication such as Power Point by Microsoft is connected to a projectorvia a video cable and the presenter's computer is used to drive theprojector like an additional computer display screen so that the desktop(e.g., the instantaneous image on the presenter's computer displayscreen) on the presenter's computer is presented via the projector on alarge video screen that can be viewed by persons within a conferenceroom.

More recent systems have been developed that employ electronic flatpanel display screens instead of projectors and that enable more thanone conferee to simultaneously share digital content (e.g., softwareapplication output) on common conference screens. For instance,Steelcase markets a Media:scape system that includes two or more commonflat panel display screens supported adjacent one edge of a conferencetable, a switching device or application and a set (e.g., six) oflink/control subassemblies where each subassembly can link to adifferent conferee computing device (e.g., a laptop). Each computingdevice user can select any subset of the common screens to share theuser's device desktop and hence application output with others gatheredabout the conference table. Common screen control is egalitarian so thatany user linked to one of the link/control subassemblies can assumecontrol of one or more of the common screens whenever they want towithout any requirement that other users grant permission. Applicantoutput can include a still image, a video output (e.g., a video accessedvia the Internet) or dynamic output of a computer application as adevice user interacts with a software application (e.g., as a wordprocessing application is used to edit a document).

While Media:scape works well for small groups wanting to quickly sharedigital content among themselves in a dynamic fashion, the system hasseveral shortcomings. First, the ability to simultaneously share contentfrom multiple sources is limited by the number of common display screensincluded in the system. For instance, where a Media:scape system onlyincludes two common display screens, output from only two sources can besimultaneously presented.

Second, current versions of Media:scape do not include a feature thatenables conferees to archive session images for subsequent access andtherefore the system is best suited for realtime content sharing asopposed to generating session information that is maintained in apersistent state.

Third, the ability to move content around on common screens is notfluid. For instance, if first through fourth different sources are usedto simultaneously drive first through fourth different Media:scapescreens and a user wants to swap content from the fourth screen withcontent from the first screen, in most cases there is no way for thesingle user to accomplish this task. This is because two differentsources initially drive the first and fourth common screens and usuallyone user does not control two sources. For instance, usually a firstuser's device would drive the first screen and a fourth user's devicewould drive the fourth screen and both the first and fourth user wouldhave to cooperate to accomplish the swap.

Fourth, Media:scape does not enable direct resizing of content on commondisplay screens to render content in sizes that are optimized forspecific viewing applications. To this end, while Media:scape screensare relatively large, the screens have sizes that are generallyoptimized for use by conferees gathered about the Media:scape conferencetable adjacent thereto. If conferees are spaced from the Media:scapetable, the size of content shared on the common screens is often toosmall to be optimal.

Fifth, Media:scape hardware is usually arranged to be stationary andtherefore user's are constrained to viewing content on stationarydisplay screens relative to the conference table and other hardware.Again, while this arrangement may be optimal for some situations,optimal arrangement of content about a conference space is often amatter of user choice based on tasks to accomplish, conferees inattendance, content being shared, etc.

Other conferencing systems have been developed that allow people in aconference space to share information within the space on a plurality oflarge flat panel display screens that are provided about walls thatdefine the conference space. For instance, the screen space of threelarge flat panel displays may be divided into a set of nine smallerpresentation spaces arranged to form a ribbon of spaces so that ninedistinct images can be simultaneously shared along the ribbon. Ifdesired, three of the nine images in the smaller spaces can be enlargedand presented on the three large common displays. Output to the screenscan include still images, video output or dynamic output of anapplication program.

At least one known system includes a wand device usable by a presenterto interact on the common screens with applications that drive thecommon screens. For instance, the wand can be used to move commonpresentation spaces about the common screens to rearrange the spaces andimmediately associated content, to resize one or more of thepresentation spaces and associated content, to cycle through contentthat runs off the common screens during a session, etc.

Some systems also facilitates control of commonly presented content viaportable user devices such as laptops, pad type computing devices, etc.To this end, some systems present a touch interface on a user's portablepad or tablet type device screen that can be used to control commonscreen content.

These other known systems, unfortunately, also have some shortcomings.First, known systems includes stationary hardware that restricts how thesystem can be used by conferees. For instance, a typical system may beprovided in a conference space that includes a front wall, a rear walland two side walls and may include three large common display screensmounted side by side to the front wall as well as one side screenmounted to each side walls with a conference table supported between thespace walls. Thus, user's of the space are typically arranged about thetable and angle themselves, most of the time, to face the front wallwhere content is being presented via the front three display screens.Here, images may be provided on the side screens, for the most part theside and rear walls are effectively unutilized or at least areunderutilized by conferees. Here, for persons to view the commoncontent, in many cases, the arrangement requires users to turn away fromeach other and toward the common content so that face to faceconversations are difficult to carry on.

Second, while session content for several session images may besimultaneously presented via the relatively small presentation spacesprovided on the three display screens mounted to the front wall, thecontent is often too small for actual reference and the content needs tobe increased in size in order to appreciate any detail presented.Increasing content size of some content causes the enlarged content todisadvantageously block out views of other content.

Third, known systems require users to use either a special device like awand or a portable personal user device to interact with presentedcontent. While the wand is interesting, it is believed there may bebetter interfaces for commonly displayed content. To this end, mostsystems only include a single wand and therefore wand control andcontent control using the wand has to be passed from one conferee toanother which makes egalitarian control less attractive. While personaluser device interfaces are useful, in many cases users may not want tocarry a personal device around or the size of the personal device screenmay be insufficient to support at least certain useful interfaceactivities.

Fourth, as more features are added to common display screens within asystem, portable personal interface devices can become much more complexand far less intuitive to operate. For instance, where an interfaceincludes nine relatively small presentation spaces in a ribbon form, apersonal device interface may also includes nine spaces and may alsoinclude other tools to facilitate user input. On a small portable devicescreen too much information or too many icons or fields can beintimidating. In addition, where an interface is oriented differentlythan commonly presented information, the relative juxtaposition of theinterface and commonly displayed information can be disorienting.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It has been recognized that simplified interfaces can be provided touser's of common display screens that enable the users to controldigital content provided via the common screens. To this end, interfacescan be dynamically modified to reflect changes in content presented viathe common displays. For instance, where a rectangular emissive roomincludes four fully emissive walls (e.g., the complete area of each ofthe four walls is formed by electronic display pixels) and where severalsub-areas or presentation spaces on the walls are used to simultaneouslypresent different subsets of digital content (e.g., images ofapplication output), an interface within the emissive room may beprogrammed to be different depending on the juxtaposition of theinterface within the room relative to the presentation spaces. Forexample, where an interface user is directly in front of a firstpresentation space, the user may be able to directionally swipe asurface of the interface forward toward the first presentation space toreplicate digital content (e.g., the user's immediate desktop content)from the interface to the first presentation space. In this example, ifa second presentation space faces the first on an opposing wall, theuser may be able to directionally swipe the interface surface toward theuser's chest and therefore toward the second presentation space behindthe user to replicate the digital content from the interface to thesecond presentation space. If a third presentation space is to the leftof the user's interface, the user may be able to replicate content fromthe user's interface to the third space by swiping directionally to theleft, and so on.

Where a second user uses a second interface at a different location inthe conference space, the second interface would enable directionalreplication to the different presentation spaces, albeit where thedirectional replication is different and is based on the relativejuxtaposition of the second interface to the presentation spaces. Forinstance, where the second interface faces the second display screen andaway from the first displays screen, replication on the second and firstscreens may be facilitated via forward and rearward swiping action, inat least some embodiments.

In at least some cases a replicating action to an emissive space that isnot currently designated a presentation space may cause the system togenerate or create a new presentation space on an emissive surface thatis substantially aligned with a conferee's gesture. When a newpresentation space is added to an emissive surface in the space,interfaces associated with the emissive surfaces may be automaticallymodified to reflect the change in presentation space options. Thus, forinstance, where an initial set of presentation spaces does not include apresentation space on a right side wall and a conferee makes areplicating gesture to the right side wall, the system may automaticallycreate a new presentation space on the right side wall to replicate theconferee's digital content. When the new presentation space is created,the user interface is updated to include another option for gesturebased replication where the other option can be selected to causereplication in the new space from the interface. Other interfacesassociated with the room would be similarly modified as well to supportthe other replicating feature.

In at least some cases a gesture via an interface away from an imagepresented in one of the emissive surface presentation spaces may causeexisting content presented in the presentation space to be removed therefrom or to be duplicated on the interface. Where existing presentationspace content is removed from an existing presentation space, theexisting space may either persist and be blank, may persist and presentpreviously presented content, or the presentation space may be removedfrom the emissive surface altogether.

In some cases an interface may include at least some indication ofcurrently supported gestures. For instance, where a separatepresentation space is presented via each of four emissive walls in arectangular emissive conference room, a first interface facing a firstof the four presentation spaces may include four separate presentationspace icons, one for each and directionally substantially aligned witheach of the four presentation spaces. Here, the four icons provide avisual queue indicating presentation spaces on which the interface usercan share content. Where a fifth presentation space is added through agesture based replication to an open space or the like, a fifthpresentation space icon would be added to the interface that issubstantially aligned with the fifth presentation space to indicate anew replicating option. Other interfaces within the conference spacewould be dynamically updated accordingly.

In at least some cases the presentation space icons may includethumbnails of currently presented content on the emissive surfaces tohelp interface users better understand the overall system. Here, anothergesture may be supported to enable an interface user to increase thesize of one or more of the thumbnails on the interface for individualviewing of the thumbnail images in greater detail. For instance, a twofinger separating gesture could result in a zooming action and a twofinger pinch gesture could reverse a zooming action.

Where presentation space icons are provided on an interface, a draggingsharing action may be supported in addition to or instead of the swipinggesture sharing actions. For instance, an interface user may touch anddrag from a user's desktop or workspace on an interface to one or moreof the presentation space icons to replicate the user's content on oneor more associated emissive surface presentation spaces or contentfields.

In at least some embodiments at least initial sizes of presentationspaces will have a default value based on the size of the space in whicha system is located and on the expected locations of conferees withinthe space relative to the emissive surfaces. To this end, it has beenrecognized that, while extremely large emissive surfaces can beconfigured with existing technology, the way people interact withemissive surfaces and content presented thereby often means thatpresentation spaces that are relatively smaller than the maximum sizespaces possible are optimal. More specifically, three by five footpresentation spaces are often optimal given conference room sizes andconferee juxtapositions relative to supporting or surrounding wallsurfaces. The three by five foot size is generally optimal becauseinformation subsets of sizes most people are generally comfortableprocessing can be presented in large enough graphics for people in mostsized conference rooms to see when that size is adopted. The size atleast somewhat mimics the size of a conventional flip chart page thatpeople are already comfortable using through past experience.

In some cases, the default presentation space size can be modifiedeither on a presentation space by presentation space basis or across theboard to reflect conferee preferences.

Some embodiments include a conferencing arrangement for sharinginformation within a conference space, the arrangement comprising acommon presentation surface positioned within the conference space, thecommon presentation surface including a presentation surface area, acommon presentation surface driver, a system processor linked to thedriver, the system processor receiving information content andpresenting the information content via the common presentation surfaceand a user interface device including a device display screen and adevice processor, the device processor programmed to provide a dynamicinterface via the device display screen that is usable to create anarbitrary number of distinct sharing spaces on the presentation surfacearea for sharing information content and to automatically modify theinterface to include features for controlling content presented in thesharing spaces as the number of distinct sharing spaces is altered.

In some cases the user interface device is positioned in a specificorientation with respect to the common presentation surface and whereinthe features for controlling content presented in the sharing spacesinclude sharing features on the device display screen that aresubstantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces. In somecases the user interface device is portable and wherein, as theorientation of the user interface device is changed, the deviceprocessor is programmed to alter the device interface to maintainsubstantial alignment of the sharing features on the device displayscreen and the associated distinct sharing spaces.

In some cases the common presentation surface is a first commonpresentation surface, the arrangement including at least a second commonpresentation surface that is angled with respect to the first commonpresentation surface and that includes presentation surface area, thedynamic interface usable to create an arbitrary number of distinctsharing spaces on the presentation surface areas for sharing informationcontent. In some cases the angle between the first and second commonpresentation surfaces is less than 120 degrees.

In some cases the first and second common presentation surfaces formwall surfaces of the conference space. In some cases the first andsecond common presentation surfaces substantially cover first and secondwalls about the conference space. Some embodiments also include at leasta third common presentation surface that is substantially parallel tothe first presentation surface and that forms presentation surface area,the dynamic interface usable to create an arbitrary number of distinctsharing spaces on the presentation surface areas for sharing informationcontent.

In some cases the angle between the first and second common presentationsurfaces is less than 91 degrees. In some cases at least a portion ofthe common presentation surface is concave toward the conference space.Some embodiments also include a conference table arranged in theconference space, the user interface device built into a top surface ofthe conference table.

In some cases the user interface device is a first user interfacedevice, the arrangement further including a second user interface deviceincluding a second device display screen and a second device processor,the second device processor programmed to provide a dynamic secondinterface via the second device display screen that is also usable tocontrol the number of distinct sharing spaces on the presentationsurface area for sharing information content and to automatically modifythe second interface to include features for controlling contentpresented in the sharing spaces as the number of distinct sharing spacesis altered via any one of the interface devices.

In some cases the first user interface device is positioned in aspecific orientation with respect to the common presentation surface andwherein the features for controlling content presented in the sharingspaces include sharing features on the first device display screen thatare substantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces andwherein the second user interface device is positioned in a specificorientation with respect to the common presentation surface and whereinthe features for controlling content presented in the sharing spacesinclude sharing features on the second device display screen that aresubstantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces.

In some cases the presentation surface and driver include an electronicdisplay screen. In some cases the driver is a projector. In some casesthe presentation surface substantially surrounds the conference space.

In some cases the presentation surface area includes first and secondpresentation surface areas, each of which is dividable into sharingspaces, the second presentation surface area presenting a mirror imageof the sharing spaces and content in the sharing spaces on the firstpresentation surface area, the interface including features forcontrolling content presented in the sharing spaces of the firstpresentation surface area. In some cases the second presentation surfacearea substantially opposes the first presentation surface area. In somecases each sharing space has similar default dimensions. In some casesthe default dimensions include a width within a width range of two feetby six feet and a height within a height range of three feet and sevenfeet.

In some cases the lower edge of each sharing space is higher thantwenty-seven inches. In some cases the interface enables modification tothe dimensions of any of the sharing spaces. In some cases, as sharingspaces are added to the presentation surface area, the sharing spacesare provided in a single row of adjacent sharing spaces. In some casesthe system processor is programmed to, as shared information is replacedin one of the sharing spaces, present a thumbnail image of the replacedshared information in an archive field on the presentation surface. Insome cases the device display screen is a touch sensitive device displayscreen.

Some embodiments include a conferencing arrangement for sharinginformation within a conference space, the arrangement comprising acommon presentation subassembly including presentation surfacepositioned within the conference space, the common presentation surfaceincluding presentation surface area facing the conference space on atleast two sides of the conference space, a common presentation surfacedriver, a system processor linked to the driver, the system processorreceiving information content and presenting the information content viathe common presentation surface and a plurality of user interfacedevices, each user interface device including a device display screenand a device processor, the device processor programmed to provide adynamic interface via the device display screen that is usable to modifyan arbitrary number of distinct sharing spaces on the presentationsurface area for sharing information content, the device processorfurther programmed to automatically modify the interface to includefeatures for controlling content presented in the sharing spaces as thenumber of distinct sharing spaces is altered via any one of theplurality of user interface devices.

In some cases each user interface device is positioned in a devicespecific orientation with respect to the common presentation surface andwherein the features for controlling content presented in the sharingspaces include sharing features on the device display screens that aresubstantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces. In somecases the presentation surface area substantially surrounds theconference space.

Other embodiments include a conferencing arrangement for sharinginformation within a conference space, the arrangement comprising acommon presentation surface positioned within the conference space, thecommon presentation surface including a presentation surface areaincluding distinct sharing spaces for sharing information content, acommon presentation surface driver, a system processor linked to thedriver, the system processor receiving information content and causingthe driver to present the information content via the commonpresentation surface and a moveable dynamic user interface wherein theorientation of the user interface with respect to the sharing spaces ischangeable, the interface including features for controlling contentpresented in the sharing spaces including sharing features that remainsubstantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces as theinterface orientation is changed.

In some cases the common presentation surface includes at least firstand second common presentation surfaces positioned within the conferencespace, the first common presentation surface including at least a firstdistinct sharing space and the second common presentation surfaceincluding at least a second distinct sharing space. In some cases thefirst distinct sharing space includes substantially the entire surfacearea of the first common presentation surface. In some cases the firstcommon presentation surface is adjacent the second common presentationsurface and wherein at least one sharing space stretches across portionsof the adjacent first and second common presentation surfaces.

Some embodiments include electronic displays that provide the first andsecond common presentation surfaces. In some cases the commonpresentation surface substantially includes an entire wall in aconference space. In some cases the common presentation surface includesa curved portion of a wall.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described. The followingdescription and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certainillustrative aspects of the invention. However, these aspects areindicative of but a few of the various ways in which the principles ofthe invention can be employed. Other aspects, advantages and novelfeatures of the invention will become apparent from the followingdetailed description of the invention when considered in conjunctionwith the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an exemplary system implementing at leastsome aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a conference space in plan view andwall surfaces that may be emissive;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a pad type interface device that isconsistent with at least some aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows an interface device of FIG. 3 with fields corresponding toconference space walls;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary interface device like the one shown in FIG. 4within a conference space schematic like the one shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5, albeit showing two interface devices andcontent fields on one of the walls of a conference space;

FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 6, albeit showing three interface devices andcontent on two conference walls;

FIG. 8 shows an interface device like the one shown in FIG. 4 and asingle conference space wall;

FIG. 9 is similar to FIG. 8, albeit showing a different set of contenton the conference wall and associated control tools on the interface;

FIG. 10 is similar to FIG. 9, albeit showing content on two walls andcontrol interface tools corresponding to the content on the walls;

FIG. 11 is similar to FIG. 10, albeit showing four conference spacewalls and an interface device being used to interact therewith;

FIG. 12 is similar to FIG. 11, albeit showing an action to move contentfrom one conference space wall to another using an exemplary interfacedevice;

FIG. 13 is similar to FIG. 11, albeit showing two interface deviceswithin a conference space where the tools presented by the interfacedevices are aligned with content within a conference space that ispresented on conference walls;

FIG. 14 is similar to FIG. 11, albeit showing an interface that has beenrotated through 90° with respect to a vertical axis;

FIG. 15 shows two interface devices at different locations relative tocontent in a field on a wall and interface tools on each of the devicesfor interacting with the content;

FIG. 16 is similar to FIG. 15, albeit showing three content fields andtools on two interface devices for interacting with the three contentfields;

FIG. 17 is similar to FIG. 16, albeit showing the two interface devicesin different relative juxtapositions with respect to the content on thewalls;

FIG. 18 is similar to FIG. 14, albeit showing the interface devicesrotated into an angled orientation with respect to the conference walls;

FIG. 19 is similar to FIG. 18, albeit showing a different interfacescreen for interacting with content on conference walls;

FIG. 20 is similar to FIG. 17, albeit showing first and second interfacedevices at different angles with respect to content presented on aconference wall;

FIG. 21 is similar to FIG. 17, albeit showing a double gesture on anaction on an interface device;

FIG. 22 is similar to FIG. 21, albeit showing a gesture action formoving content from a content field on one of the walls on theconference space onto the interface device display screen;

FIG. 23 is a schematic illustrating two interface devices within acircular conference space including content fields about the circularspace walls;

FIG. 24 shows an exemplary interface device presenting tools for sharingcontent in conference content fields;

FIG. 25 is similar to FIG. 24, albeit showing a different arrangement ofinterface tools;

FIG. 26 shows content on two conference space walls as well asrelatively smaller thumbnails of previously presented content;

FIG. 27 shows content on content fields on a conference wall as well asauthor identifiers associated with each set of content;

FIG. 28 shows a conference space wall including a session archive thatis consistent with at least some aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 29 shows an interface device being used to access a session archivethat is consistent with at least some aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 30 shows an interface device being used to move content into apersonal archive;

FIG. 31 shows a conference space where a space user creates a newcontent window or field on the conference wall;

FIG. 32 is similar to FIG. 31, albeit showing the new content fields;

FIG. 33 is similar to FIG. 32;

FIG. 34 includes a schematic diagram illustrating a conference spacewherein a space user gestures on a content field to move content to adifferent content field on a wall within the space;

FIG. 35 is similar to FIG. 34, albeit showing a space user movingcontent from one field to the next that is consistent with other aspectsof the present disclosure;

FIG. 36 is a schematic illustrating an on deck queue on a conferencespace wall and movement of content from an interface device into the ondeck queue;

FIG. 37 is a schematic illustrating five interface prepresentationsprovided by an emissive table top surface within a conference withcontent in content fields on space walls;

FIG. 38 is a schematic illustrating one of the interface devicesincluding tools for interacting with content within the conference spacein FIG. 37;

FIG. 39 is similar to FIG. 38, albeit illustrating the tools presentedvia a different one of the interfaces in FIG. 37;

FIG. 40 shows yet another interface device within a conference spacewith tools for interacting with content presented in content fields onspace walls;

FIG. 41 shows an interface device being used to replicate content from awall in a conference space on the interface device;

FIG. 42 shows first and second interface devices within a conferencespace where content from walls directly in front of the interfacedevices is replicated on the interface devices in a dynamic fashion;

FIG. 43 is a schematic illustrating an interface device being used tomove content from the interface device screen to each of the wallswithin a conference space via a gesture on the interface display screen;

FIG. 44 is similar to FIG. 43, albeit showing content from a secondinterface device being added to content from a first interface device onspace walls;

FIG. 45 is a schematic illustrating in interface device being used toaccess content associated with a time line;

FIG. 46 shows another interface device being used to access content as afunction of time;

FIG. 47 is a schematic illustrating an interface device being used tocontrol replicated content from one of the content fields on one of thewalls in a conference space;

FIG. 48 is a schematic illustrating yet other tools for moving contentfrom an interface device to a content field on a conference space wall;

FIG. 49 is similar to FIG. 48, albeit showing continued movement ofcontent using an interface device;

FIG. 50 is similar to FIG. 49, albeit showing other tools forcontrolling content via an interface device;

FIG. 51 shows yet other tools for moving content about on conferencewalls via an interface device;

FIG. 52 shows an interface device being used to control content onconference room walls;

FIG. 53 is similar to FIG. 52, albeit showing replicated content fromone of the space walls on the interface device screen;

FIG. 54 is similar to FIG. 53, albeit showing movement of content on aninterface device and associated movement of content on one of the spacewalls;

FIG. 55 is similar to FIG. 54, albeit showing a different state;

FIG. 56 shows a schematic of an emissive surface including and forming ashelf member;

FIG. 57 shows two exemplary walls of a conference space that have theform shown in FIG. 56 where an interface device is presented on a topsurface of one of the shelf members;

FIG. 58 shows an emissive structure including a shelf structure that canbe moved up and down;

FIG. 59 shows a space user using a personal space to interact withcontent presented on a space wall; and

FIG. 60 is similar to FIG. 59; albeit showing the space user facing adifferent wall with content presentation being modified in an automatedfashion to account for the orientation of the space user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals correspondto similar elements throughout the several views and, more specifically,referring to FIG. 1, the present invention will be described in thecontext of an exemplary conference space configuration 10 that includesa conference table 11, four wall subassemblies (referred to alsohereafter as walls) 12, 14, 16, 18, a processor 50, a database 52 and aplurality of wireless access points 56. The walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 forma rectangular space and include first and second end walls 12 and 16 andfirst and second side walls 14 and 18. A door or egress 22 for enteringand exiting the space 10 is located in wall 14 adjacent wall 16. In theinterest of simplifying this explanation, the walls 12, 14, 16 and 18will be referred to as east, south, west and north walls, respectively.In FIG. 2 and other figures thereafter having a similar appearance, thewalls 12, 14, 16 and 18 and table 11 are shown in a top plan view wherethe walls have been laid flat with surfaces that face space 13 shownfacing upward. In an actual arrangement each of the walls 12, 14, 16 and18 is generally vertically oriented as shown in FIG. 1.

Each of walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 includes a surface area. For instance,wall 18 includes a rectangular surface area 30 having a height dimensionH1 and a width dimension W1 that extend substantially the entire heightand width of the wall 18. In at least a first embodiment the surface ofarea 30 is emissive. Herein, unless indicated otherwise, the phrase“emissive surface” will be used to refer to a surface that can be drivenby a computer to present information to conferees located within space10. For instance, in at least some embodiments emissive surface 30 mayinclude a large LED or LCD display that covers substantially the entirewall surface area and may operate like a large flat panel displayscreen. Here, the term “substantially” is used to refer to essentiallythe entire surface area but not necessarily the entire surface area. Forinstance, in at least some embodiments the emissive surface may beframed by a bezel structure so that a small frame exists along the edgesof surface 30. As a another instance, an emissive surface may include asurface and a projector aimed at the surface to project information onto the surface.

In addition surfaces of walls 12, 14 and 16 are each emissive in atleast some embodiments so that all of the surfaces of walls 12, 14, 16and 18 facing area 13 are emissive and can be used to present digitalcontent to conferees within space 13. In at least some embodiments asurface of door 22 facing space 13 is also emissive. To minimize thenon-emissive areas between door 22 and adjacent portions of wall 16, thebezel about the door surface may be minimal (e.g., ¼th inch or less).While not shown, configuration 10 would also include a ceiling structurei most cases.

Referring still to FIGS. 1 and 2, table 11 is centrally positionedwithin space 13 and forms a rectangular table top 60 dimensioned toleave space between edges of the top 60 and adjacent walls 12, 14, 16and 18 for chairs 70 used by conferees. In the illustrated embodimenteight chairs 70 are arranged around table 30 at spaces to be occupied byconferees.

Processor 50 can be any type of computer processor capable of runningsoftware to control the system described herein and to drive theemissive surfaces formed by walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 and the emissivesurface of door 22. In at least some embodiments processor 50 will takethe form of a server for running programs. Processor 50 may be locatedat the location of the conference space 13 or may be located remotelytherefrom and linked thereto via the Internet or some other computernetwork. While FIG. 1 shows processor 50 dedicated to configuration 10,processor 50 may be programmed to run components associated with severaldifferent conferencing spaces 13. In addition, while a single processor50 is shown in FIG. 1, in some embodiments several processors or serversmay operate together to provide all of the features described in thisspecification.

Referring still to FIG. 1, database 52 is linked to processor 50.Software programs run by processor 50 as well as data generated by thesoftware programs is stored on database 52. Database 52 may be remotefrom processor 50 and/or from other configuration 10 components or maybe located proximate configuration 10.

Access points 56 are located proximate space 13. In the illustratedembodiment in FIG. 1 access points 56 includes four separate accesspoints located within a ceiling structure of configuration 10. In otherembodiments the access points may be built directly into structures thatform emissive display surfaces. Access points 56 are used to communicatewith personal computing devices 80 a, 80 b, 80 c, 80 d, etc. locatedwithin space 13 and to perform various functions. For instance, accesspoints 56 can be used to receive signals from devices 80 a, etc., anduse those signals to identify locations of the devices within space 13via a triangulation process or the like. In addition, in at least someembodiments the signals can be used to identify orientation of each ofthe devices 80 a, etc. To this end, see in FIG. 2 that six additionalwireless access points 56 are built into table structure 11. By buildingthe access points 56 into the table structure itself, the access pointscan be located closer to the personal devices 80 a, 80 b, etc., used byconferees and therefore position and orientation data can be moreaccurately determined. Other sensors for sensing location andorientation of personal devices are contemplated.

Personal devices 80 a, 80 b, etc., may take any of several differentforms including laptop computers, tablet type computing devices (e.g.,tablets from Apple, Samsung, Sony, Amazon, Dell, etc.), smart phones orother palm type computing devices, watch type computing devices, headmounted devices such as the currently available Google Glass goggles,etc. While the personal devices may take any of several different forms,unless indicated otherwise, in the interest of simplifying thisexplanation, the inventive system will be described in the context oftablet type computing devices 80 a, 80 b, etc. having a display screenthat measures diagonally anywhere between 4 and 14 inches. In addition,unless indicated otherwise, the system will be described in the contextof tablet device 80 a.

Referring to FIG. 3, device 80 a includes a display screen 90, a deviceprocessor 91, a device memory 93 and a wireless transceiver 95.Processor 91 is linked to each of screen 90, memory 93 and transceiver95. Memory 93 stores application programs and an operating system run byprocessor 91 as well as data that is generated by a device user runningthe operating system and application programs. Processor 91 cancommunicate with system processor 50 or other personal device processorswirelessly as well known in the wireless communication arts.

Regarding orientation, tablet device 80 a has a rectangular displayscreen 90 as shown in FIG. 3 that has a height dimension H2 and a widthdimension W2 where height dimension H2 is greater than width dimensionW2. The screen 90 operates as both an output device generating digitalcontent by running application programs and as a touch screen inputdevice for interacting with the application programs run by the device80 a. As an input device, device 80 a generates on screen icons andother interface artifacts that can be touched, slid, and otherwisephysically contacted to express device user intent.

In operation, a user orients device 80 a in either a portraitorientation (see FIG. 3) where height dimension H2 is vertical or alandscape orientation (see FIG. 4) where height dimension H2 ishorizontal. Device 80 a includes an orientation determining system whichdetermines if device 80 a is oriented in the portrait or landscapeorientations and then changes the information presented on the displayscreen to be either portrait or landscape, depending on the deviceorientation. In portrait, a top edge 92 of a screen interfacerepresentation is along a short top edge of screen 90 and all interfacecontent is arranged to face the device user opposite the top edge (e.g.,along an interface bottom edge 94). In landscape, a top edge 92 of ascreen interface representation is along a long edge of screen 90 andall interface content is arranged to face the device user along thebottom interface edge 94 (see FIG. 4). Hereinafter, unless indicatedotherwise, operation of device 80 a will be described in the content ofdevice 80 a being oriented in the landscape orientation shown in FIG. 4where the top edge of the interface presented via display 90 is parallelto dimension H2.

In addition to device 80 a determining its own portrait or landscapeorientation, processor 50 is programmed to determine the orientation ofdevice 80 a within space 13. For instance, processor 50 may determinethat the top edge 92 of the device interface is parallel to wall 18 andcloser to wall 18 than is bottom interface edge 94 and therefore that auser of device 80 a is at least generally facing wall 18. Hereinafter,unless indicated otherwise, in order to simplify this explanation, whendevice 80 a is oriented so that it can be assumed that a user of device80 a is facing wall 18, it will be said that device 80 a is oriented toface wall 18 or that device 80 a faces wall 18. As another instance,processor 50 may determine that the top edge 92 of the device interfaceis parallel to wall 18 and closer to wall 16 than is bottom interfaceedge 94 and therefore that device 80 a faces wall 16. As still one otherinstance, processor 50 may determine that the top interface edge 92 isparallel to wall 12 and closer to wall 12 than is bottom interface edge94 and therefore that device 80 a faces wall 12.

When top interface edge 92 is not parallel to one of the walls 12, 14,16 or 18, processor 50 is programmed to identify device 80 a orientationbased on best relative alignment of device 80 a with one of the walls12, 14, 16 or 18 in at least some embodiments. For instance, where thetop interface edge 92 is angled 10 degrees from parallel to wall 18 andis closer to wall 18 than is bottom edge 94, processor 50 identifiesthat device 80 a faces wall 18. In at least some embodiments, any timethe angle between top interface edge 92 and wall 18 is less than 45degrees, processor 50 may be programmed to determine that device 80 afaces wall 18. Similarly, any time the angle between top interface edge92 and wall 12 is less than 45 degrees, processor 50 may be programmedto determine that device 80 a faces wall 12, any time the angle betweentop interface edge 92 and wall 14 is less than 45 degrees, processor 50may be programmed to determine that device 80 a faces wall 14 and anytime the angle between top interface edge 92 and wall 16 is less than 45degrees, processor 50 may be programmed to determine that device 80 afaces wall 16.

In at least some cases it has been recognized that the hardware andsoftware for determining orientation will not be accurate enough toidentify orientation down to the degree and therefore, hysteresis may bebuilt into the orientation determining system such that a change inorientation is only identified when the perceived orientation of device80 a changes by a predefined amount. For instance, whenever theperceived angle between the top interface edge 92 and wall 18 is lessthan 20 degrees, processor may be programmed to determine that device 80a faces wall 18. The determination that device 80 a faces wall 18 maypersist even after the perceived angle is greater than 30 degrees untilthe angle is greater than 60 degrees. Thus, after processor 50determines that device 80 a faces wall 18, as a device 80 a user turnsdevice 80 a to face wall 12, until the angle between top interface edge92 ad wall 12 is less than 30 degrees, processor 50 may be programmed tocontinue to determine that device 80 a faces wall 18. Here, the 60degree hysteresis would apply to any previously determined orientation.

In the above description, processor 50 is described as able todistinguish four different device 80 a orientations including facingwall 12, facing wall 14, facing wall 16 and facing wall 18. In otherembodiments processor 50 may be programmed to distinguish more than fourorientations. For instance, in some cases processor 50 may be able todistinguish eight orientations including facing any one of four walls12, 14, 16 and 18 or “facing” any one of the four corners of space 13,based on eight ranges of angular orientation. More granular orientationdetermination is contemplated.

Regarding location determination, referring to FIG. 2, four separatedevices 80 a through 80 d are illustrated. Processor 50 is programmed todetermine device location within space 13 relative to walls 12, 14, 16and 18. Location determination may be relatively terse or granular. Forinstance, in some cases location may be determined to be within an upperleft quadrant of space 13, a lower left quadrant of space 13, an upperright quadrant of space 13 and a lower right quadrant of space 13. Inother cases location may be determined on a virtual square foot gridwithin space 13, on a location by location basis about table 11, etc.

Thus, processor 50 is programmed to determine device location withinspace 13 as well as device orientation (e.g., which wall or generaldirection a device faces). As a device is moved or reoriented withinspace 13, processor 50 continues to receive signals from access points56 or other sensing devices associated with space 13 and updateslocation and orientation essentially in real time or at least routinelyfor each device used in space 13.

Referring once again to FIG. 2, in at least some embodiments it iscontemplated that a device 80 a can be used to share digital content viathe emissive surfaces of walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 with conferees withinspace 13. In this regard, device 80 a may run a conferencing applicationin parallel with a sharing application run by processor 50 to allowdevice 80 a content to be duplicated on one or more of walls 12 through18 when controlled by a device user to share. For instance, during aconference among eight people arranged about table 11, a conferee usingdevice 80 a may be running a computer aided design (CAD) application toview and modify a CAD drawing on the screen of device 80 a and maydecide to share that CAD drawing with the other conferees.

While the conferee wants to share the drawing and has plenty of emissivesurface circumscribing space 13 on which to share, absent some intuitiveway to duplicate the output of the CAD application on some portion ofthe emissive surface, the conferee would be completely confused. Forinstance, how could the CAD drawing be duplicated on a portion of theemissive surface? If the drawing were to be duplicated, how could thesharing conferee place the drawing at an optimal location for sharingwith others in space 13? Once the drawing is duplicated, how could thedrawing be moved from one location to another on the emissive surfaces?How could the sharing conferee control the CAD application once thedrawing is shared to change the appearance of the drawing?

In at least some embodiments, when device 80 a runs the conferencingapplication, device 80 a will provide an intuitive and orientedinterface for sharing content. To this end, prior to using a device 80 ato control content within space 13, a sharing or conferencingapplication would be downloaded onto device 80 a. Thereafter, when theapplication is run on device 80 a, the application would generate anoriented interface on the device 80 a screen. In some cases theconferencing application would be run by manual selection of theapplication on the device. In other cases, the system may be set up sothat whenever device 80 a is located within space 13, the application isautomatically run to provide the oriented interface. In still othercases when device 80 a is in space 13, the application may prompt thedevice user via the device screen to indicate whether or not the userwould like the application to provide the oriented interface.

One exemplary oriented interface is shown in FIG. 4. When an application(e.g., a CAD application, any application other than the conferencingapplication) is run on device 80 a, the application generates outputpresented to a device 80 a user as a graphical interface on the devicedisplay screen. The conferencing application generates an additionaloriented interface to be added to another application interface toenable control of application sharing within space 13. In FIG. 4, outputof a general application run by device 80 a is provided in a central andrelatively large general application space 100. The output in space 100is essentially identical to the output of the general application thatwould be generated by the general application if the conferencingapplication was not running in parallel. Thus, in the case of a CADapplication, if the conferencing application were not runningsimultaneously, the CAD application output would be output on the entirespace of screen 90. Once the conferencing application is run in parallelwith the CAD application, the output of the CAD application is presentedin space 100 in a slightly smaller version so that a frame space existsaround space 100 on screen 90.

Referring still to FIG. 4, the exemplary conferencing applicationinterface generates content to populate the frame portion of screen 90that circumscribes space 100. In FIG. 4 the conferencing applicationinterface generates wall fields 112, 114, 116 and 118 about space 100with a left field 112 to the left of space 100, a rear field 114 belowspace 100, a right field 116 to the right of space 100 and a front field118 to the top of space 100. The fields 112, 114, 116 and 118 include aseparate field for each of the conferencing space walls 12, 14, 16 and18.

Which wall field is associated with each of the walls 12, 14, 16 and 18is a function of the orientation of device 80 a within space 13. Forinstance, referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, if device 80 a is oriented to facewall 18 (i.e., with top interface edge 92 substantially parallel to wall18 and nearer wall 18 than is lower interface edge 94), front field 118will be associated with wall 18, rear field 114 will be associated withwall 14 and left and right fields 112 and 116 will be associated withwalls 12 and 16, respectively. As another instance, if device 80 a isoriented to face wall 14 (i.e., with top interface edge 92 substantiallyparallel to wall 14 and nearer wall 14 than is lower interface edge 94),front field 118 will be associated with wall 14, rear field 114 will beassociated with wall 18 and left and right fields 112 and 116 will beassociated with walls 16 and 12, respectively. As still one otherinstance, if device 80 a is oriented to face wall 12 (i.e., with topinterface edge 92 substantially parallel to wall 12 and nearer wall 12than is lower interface edge 94), front field 118 will be associatedwith wall 12, rear field 114 will be associated with wall 16 and leftand right fields 112 and 116 will be associated with walls 14 and 18,respectively.

In FIG. 5 and several other figures described hereafter, device 80 a andother personal devices are shown in an enlarged view within space 13 tosimplify this explanation. In FIG. 5 device 80 a is oriented to “face”wall 18 and therefore field 118 is associated with wall 18 and fields112, 114 and 116 are associated with walls 12, 14 and 16, respectively.In FIG. 5, the conferencing application causes device 80 a to monitorspecific touch gestures on screen 90 that indicate an intent to sharecontent from space 100 on walls 12, 14, 16 and 18. More specifically, inFIG. 5, a swiping action from within space 100 associated with contentto be shared in one of fields 112, 114, 116 or 118 causes content fromspace 100 to be duplicated on a wall associated with the field 112, 114,116 or 118 swiped to. For instance, in FIG. 5, the hand of a device useris shown at 120 and a swiping action from within space 100 to field 118is indicated by arrow 122. Once swipe 122 is sensed by device 80 a,device 80 a wirelessly transmits content from within space 100 toprocessor 50 via access points 56 along with a command signal indicatingthat the transmitted content should be duplicated on the wall associatedwith the swiped to field 118.

While FIG. 5 shows a swiping action that ends in filed 118, in someembodiments the fields 112, 114, 116, 118, etc. are only provided tohelp orient a device 80 a user and a swiping action may not need to endin one of the fields to be effective. For instance, in FIG. 5, if theswipe associated with arrow 122 was in the direction of filed 118 butstopped short thereof, device 80 a may recognize the swipe as anindication to replicate device 80 a content on the wall associated withfield 118.

Processor 50, continuously tracking and re-determining the location andorientation of device 80 a within space 13 and uses the content receivedfrom device 80 a to replicate content on the wall indicated by thedevice user. For instance, in the example above where device 80 a faceswall 18 and the device user drags or swipes content from space 100 tofield 118, the content would be replicated on wall 18 as shown in FIG. 5at 130.

In FIG. 5, it can be seen that, in at least some embodiments, whencontent is presented via wall 18, the content is presented in a mannerwherein the content does not take up the entire surface of wall 18.Instead, the content is presented in a content field 130 that onlyoccupies a portion of the wall space. More specifically, the area ofcontent field 130 is limited for several reasons so that the content isnot displayed in as large a format as possible. First, by limiting thesize of content field 130, the content is presented in a size that isconsidered to be most suitable for viewing by conferees within space 13.To this end, consider a case where content from a device display screen90 is presented in a fashion which takes up the entire space of largewall 18 and where conferees are only located a few feet away from wall18 and, in some cases, right next to wall 18 (e.g., conferees sitting inchairs immediately adjacent wall 18). In this case, perceiving thecontent that fills the entire space of wall 18 would be difficult atbest for conferees in space 13.

Second, it has been recognized that if content fills the entire surfaceof wall 18, content presented on the lower portion of wall 18 would notbe viewable by conferees on the other side of conference table 11 (e.g.,adjacent wall 14 in FIG. 2). For this reason, to maintain the appearanceof content between the content from device 80 a and the contentduplicated on wall 18 while rendering the wall content visible to allconferees in space 13, the wall content dimensions need to be limited tofit within the portion of wall generally above the height of table 11.For instance, where wall 18 has a height dimension H1 (see FIG. 2) ofnine feet and the height of table 11 is 32 inches, the height dimensionof the content presented on wall 18 should be a maximum of approximately6½ feet and the width dimension should be limited based on the heightdimension.

Third, it has been recognized that, while large amounts of informationcan be presented via wall size displays and via an emissive room likethe one described above, people generally think in relatively smallquantities of information. For instance, when thinking through aproject, often times conferees will make a high level list of topics toconsider and then take each of the high level topics and break the topicdown into sub-topics. In complex cases, one or more of the sub-topicswill then be broken down into basic concepts or ideas to be worked out.Here, each list of topics, sub-topics and concepts is usually relativelysmall and can be presented in as a subset of information on a portion ofan emissive wall surface in an appropriate size for viewing.

Fourth, by presenting content in a content field that only takes up aportion of the entire emissive wall surface, other similarly dimensionedcontent fields may be presented on a wall surface simultaneously with afirst content field enabling more than one conferee to place content tobe shared on the wall surface at the same time. For instance, it may bethat two, three or more conferees would like to share information fromtheir device spaces 100 at the same time. For example, where theconferees include three regional sales managers that want to sharequarterly sales results with each other, three content fields 130, 130 aand 130 b may be provided on the wall 18 surface (see FIG. 7).

The process for creating three content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b maybe as follows. Referring again to FIG. 5, a first device 80 a user maymove content from space 100 to field 118 on device 80 a to createcontent field 130 on wall 18 and to duplicate content from space 100 infield 130. When only a single field 130 is presented via wall 18, adefault may cause the single field to be placed centrally on the surfaceof wall 18 as a central field would likely be optimally positioned forviewing by conferees within space 13. In other cases the default mayplace the content field adjacent a left edge on wall 18 or in some otherdefault location.

Next, while content is displayed in field 130, referring to FIG. 6, asecond device 8 ba user may perform similar steps to move content (seeswipe arrow 132 and hand 134 in FIG. 6) from device 80 b to a field 118on device 80 b, causing device 80 b to send a command to processor 50 tocreate a second content field 130 a and to send the content to processor50 wirelessly. When the command and content is received by processor 50,processor 50 creates a second content field 130 a on wall 18 andduplicates the content from device 80 b in the second content field 130a. When the second field 130 a is created, as shown in FIG. 6, firstcontent field 130 may be moved to one side to accommodate field 130 a sothat the content fields 130 and 130 a are substantially equispaced alongthe width of wall 18 for optimal viewing by conferees in space 13.

Continuing, while content is displayed in fields 130 and 130 a,referring to FIG. 7, a third device 80 c user may perform similar stepsto move content (see swipe arrow 142 and hand 140 in FIG. 7) from device80 c to a field 118 on device 80 c, causing device 80 c to send acommand to processor 50 to create a third content field 130 b and tosend the content to processor 50 wirelessly. When the command andcontent is received by processor 50, processor 50 creates the thirdcontent field 130 b on wall 18 and duplicates the content from device 80c in the third content field 130 b. When the third field 130 b iscreated, as shown in FIG. 7, first content field 130 and second contentfield 130 a may be moved to left to accommodate field 130 b so that thecontent fields 130, 130 a and 130 b are substantially equispaced alongthe width of wall 18 for optimal viewing by conferees in space 13.

In some cases the content in a field 130, 130 a, etc., may be static sothat the content reflects the content that was moved into field 118 by adevice 80 a, 80 b, etc., user. In other cases the content in each or asubset of the fields 130, 130 a, 130 b may be dynamic and may beautomatically and essentially in real time updated as the content inspaces 100 on devices 80 a, 80 b, etc., is modified by device usersusing devices 80 a, 80 b, etc. For instance, where a first device user80 a initially creates content field 130 in FIG. 7, as the first deviceuser changes content in device space 100 (see again FIG. 4), thechanging content may be transmitted to processor 50 and used byprocessor 50 to drive the content window associated with device 80 a.

Where content in a content field 130 is static, in at least someembodiments a device user 80 a may be able to create more than onecontent field 130 on wall 18 by dragging a second set of content tofield 118 subsequent to dragging a first set of content to field 118.For instance, in FIG. 5, assume device user 80 a created content field130 using a first application program at a first time and that oneminute later device user 80 a uses a second application program togenerate content on device 80 a and to move the second applicationprogram content to north wall field 118. Referring also to FIG. 6, theact of moving the second application program content to field 118 maycause device 80 a to transmit the second application program content toprocessor 50 along with a command to generate a new content field onwall 18 causing processor 50 to move field 130 left and create thesecond content field 130 a as illustrated. Third, fourth and many othercontent fields may be generated by a single device user in this fashion.

In some embodiments, even when the content in fields 130, 130 a, etc.,is dynamic (e.g., a continuous video clip, output of a controllableapplication program, etc.), a single device 80 a may create and controltwo or more content field on wall 18. Thus, for instance, referringagain to FIG. 6, each of fields 130 and 130 a may have been created viadevice 80 a and a video may be presented via field 130 while the outputof an application program is presented via field 130 a.

When a content field is added to wall 18, in at least some embodimentsthe interface on each of the tablet device displays (e.g., on devices 80a, 80 b, 80 c, etc.) may be modified to reflect the change in displayedwall content. To this end, device 80 a is shown in FIG. 8 along withnorth wall 18 where single content field 130 a is shown on wall 18. Acontent field icon 146 is presented in front wall field 118 thatcorresponds to content field 130 on wall 18. While icon 146 is shown asa simple elongated rectangle, in other embodiments icon 146 may includea dynamic thumbnail icon that includes a small but distinguishableversion of the content in field 130. In other embodiments icon 146 mayappear as a simple rectangle and may change appearance to show athumbnail when a device 80 a user selects field 118 by contacting field118 with a finger tip, moving a pointing icon (e.g., a mouse controlledpointing icon) into space 118 or in some other fashion.

Referring again to FIG. 7 and also to FIG. 9, when second and thirdcontent fields 130 a and 130 b are added to wall 18, second and thirdcontent field icons 148 and 150 may be added to north wall field 118.Here, field icons 146, 148 and 150 may be located to reflect theirlocations on wall 18. Thus, in FIG. 9, icons 146, 148 and 150 are shownequispaced within field 118 to reflect positions of associated contentfields 130 130 a and 130 b, respectively, on wall 18.

In at least some embodiments there may be a limit to the number ofcontent fields that may be presented via a wall 18. For instance, inFIG. 7 it can be seen that for the size of content field shown, wall 18can only accommodate three fields 130, 130 a and 130 b. In at least somecases, when a maximum number of content fields are presented on a wall18 and another device (e.g., 80 a, 80 b) is used to attempt to createyet another content field, the content presented in an oldest contentfield on the wall may be replaced with content from the device used toattempt to create the new field. For instance, in FIG. 7, if field 130is the oldest field on wall 18 and device 80 c is used to attempt tocreate a fourth field on wall 18, the content from device 80 c may beused to replace content in field 130 (i.e., the oldest content presentedon wall 18).

In other embodiments an attempt to create an additional content field ona wall 18 in a conference space that includes one or more additionalemissive walls (e.g., see 12, 14 and 16 in FIG. 2) will result increation of an additional content field 130 c on one of the otheremissive walls. For example, in FIG. 7, when device 80 c is used toattempt to create a fourth content field on wall 18, the additionalcontent field 130 c is created on wall 16 as wall 18 already includesthe maximum number of content fields. Referring to FIG. 10, a contentfield icon 160 is added to the left wall field 116 of each device 80 a,80 b, etc., interface in space 13 to reflect the newly added contentfield 130 c. As additional content fields are created, the fields wouldbe added to the space walls 12, 14 and 16 until the maximum number ofcontent fields are created on the walls.

In at least some embodiments the device interfaces will also enabledevice users to take control of or change the content presented incontent fields previously created on one or more of the emissive wallsurface. For instance, referring again to FIG. 10 where fields 130, 130a, 130 b and 130 c already exist on walls 18 and 16, a device 80 a usermay replace content in any of the existing content fields by simplydragging or swiping content from general application space 100 into ortoward any one of the content field icons 146, 148, 150 or 160. Whencontent is dragged into or swiped toward field icon 146, device 80 atransmits the new content to processor 50 along with a command toreplace content in associated content field 130 on wall 18 with the newcontent. In at least some cases users of all devices 80 a, 80 b, 80 c,etc., will have the ability to take control of any existing contentwindow in the fashion described above so that a system that supportsegalitarian control of the content in the content fields results.

Thus, referring again to FIG. 8, with single content field 130 created,device user 80 a may either create an additional content field (see 130a in FIG. 6) on wall 18 for presenting additional content in a secondcontent field or may replace the content in first field 130 with contentfrom general application space 100. Here, to distinguish between theuser's intention, when content from space 100 is dragged to (or swipedtoward) an area in frame 90 outside content field icon 146, a secondcontent field 130 a will be created and the new content will bereplicated in the new field 130 a and when content from space 100 isdragged to icon 146, the new content in space 100 will be used toreplace content in content field 130.

Referring to FIG. 11, in addition to creating content fields on wall 18via directional swiping, dragging or other action to indicate north wallfield 118, a device 80 a user can create one or more content fields onany other emissive wall in space 13 via actions that associate contentwith other interface fields 112, 114 or 116. For instance, to create acontent field 130 b on wall 16 in FIG. 11, a device 80 a user may dragcontent from space 100 to field 116 as shown by dragging or swipingaction arrow 168. Other similar actions to associate content withinterface fields 112 and 114 may be used to create additional contentfields on walls 12 and 14, respectively. In FIG. 11, additional contentfields are labeled 130 c, 130 d and 130 e. Again, any device 80 a, 80 b,etc., may be used to create additional content fields in at least someembodiments.

In at least some cases the system may enable a device 80 a user toduplicate the same content on two or more emissive surface portions ofwalls 12, 14, 16 and 18. For instance, referring again to FIG. 11, whilecontent is presented in space 100, device 80 a user may consecutivelydrag that content into each of wall fields 112, 114, 116 and 118 tocreate content fields with the same content on each of walls 12, 14, 16and 18. With the same content on all of the walls 12, 14, 16 and 18,conferees about table 11 (see again FIGS. 1 and 2) can all view the sameinformation irrespective of orientations of the conferees within space13.

In some embodiments it is contemplated that in one operating mode, whencontent is moved to a wall via a device 80 a, if a maximum number ofcontent fields presentable via walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 has not beenreached, content fields and their content may be repeated on two or morewalls for viewing by conferees. Here, as additional content is shared,the content previously duplicated would be replaced by new content. Inother embodiments it is contemplated that all content fields may beduplicated on all or sub-sets of space walls 12, 14, 16 and 18. Forinstance, it may be that in one mode a maximum of three differentcontent fields is supported where all three fields are presented viaeach of the four walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 that define space 13. In otherembodiments it may be that a maximum of six content fields is supportedwhere first through third content fields are presented via walls 16 and18 and fourth through sixth content fields are presented via walls 12and 14 and where any content placed in the first content field isduplicated in each first content fields, content in the second field isduplicated in each second field, etc.

Once fields are created on one or more walls 12, 14, 16 and 18, devices80 a, 80 b, etc., may be used to move content around among contentfields as desired. For instance, referring to FIG. 12, the content fromcontent field 130 b may be moved to wall 12 by selecting icon 150 ondevice 80 a and dragging that icon to field 112 to create icon 170 andto cause processor 50 to move content field 130 b to the location shownat 130 d in FIG. 12 (see associated moves indicated by dashed arrows 172and 174). In FIG. 12 field 130 b is shown dashed to indicate removalfrom wall 18 when field 130 d is created. Any device 80 a, 80 b, etc.,may be used to move content fields on the emissive walls.

In FIG. 12, after the move indicated by arrow 172, a device 80 a usermay move other content from one of the content field icons in fields114, 116 or 118 to field 112 and either create a second content fieldicon (not shown) in field 112 or replace the content associated withicon 170. To create a second content field icon in field 112, the userwould drag or swipe from one of the content field icons in one of fields114, 116 or 118 to an open space in field 112 (e.g., a space notassociated with icon 170). To replace the content associated withcontent field icon 170 with other content from another content fieldicon, the user would drag or swipe from one of the content field iconsin one of fields 114, 116 or 118 to icon 170.

In at least some embodiments, content fields may be automaticallyresized as the number of content fields is changed. For instance, whenonly one content field 130 (see FIG. 5) is presented on wall 18, thesize of field 130 may be relatively large compared to when a second andthen a third content field are added to the wall 18. Thus, fields 130,130 a, etc., may be optimally sized as large as possible given thenumber of fields to be included on a wall.

In other embodiments device 80 a, 80 b, etc., users may manually changethe sizes of content fields 130, 130 a, etc., via the device interfaces.For instance, when content in a field 100 is replicated in a wallcontent field 130, a specific gesture on the device 80 a screen maycause the size of field 130 and content therein to expand or contrast.For example, the familiar two finger “touch and separate” gesture ontablet devices today that results in increasing the size of content on atablet type device screen, if applied to content in field 100, mayresult in increasing field 130 dimensions and content size in field 130with or without changing the appearance of the content in field 100. Asimilar two finger “touch and pinch” gesture in field 100 may result inreducing field 130 dimensions. Where field 130 or other field dimensionsare changed, the change may cause the field 130 to overlap adjacentfields (e.g., 130 a, 130 b, etc.) In other cases the change may causeserver 50 to move the adjacent fields to different locations on one ormore of the wall surfaces to avoid overlap between the content fields.Where overlap occurs or where content fields are moved to accommodatechanges in field dimensions, locations and perhaps sizes of contentfield icons in fields 112, 114, 116 and 118, in at least some cases, areautomatically changed to reflect orientations of the content fields withrespect to different devices 80 a, 80 b, etc.

While device 80 a, 80 b, etc., interfaces will operate in similarfashions, in at least some embodiments the interfaces will be orienteddifferently depending on the orientations of the devices within space13. For instance, referring to FIG. 13, two devices 80 a and 80 b areshown in space 13. While devices 80 a and 80 b have similar hardwareconstructions, device 80 b has an orientation that is rotated 180degrees relative to the orientation of device 80 a. Thus, while the topinterface edge 92 a of device 80 a is relatively closer to wall 18 thanto wall 14 and therefore device 80 a faces wall 18, the top interfaceedge 92 b of device 80 b is relatively closer to wall 14 than to wall 18and therefore device 80 b faces away from wall 18 and toward wall 14.Device and user facing directions will be indicated hereafter by userhand representations. For instance, in FIG. 13, hands 180 and 182indicate opposite facing directions of devices 80 a and 80 b and usersof those devices.

In FIG. 13, because devices 80 a and 80 b are differently oriented, theinterfaces align differently with the emissive walls and thereforedevices 80 a and 80 b operate differently to enable control of contenton the walls. For instance, in FIG. 13, content field icons 146 a, 148 aand 150 a corresponding to content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b on wall18 are located along the top edge of the device 80 a interface whilesimilar content field icons 146 b, 148 b and 150 b are located along thebottom edge of the device 80 b interface. Thus, consistent with thedescription above, for the user of device 80 a to move content from ageneral application space 100 a to content field 130 on wall 18, theuser may swipe from space 100 a away from the user to field icon 146 aon device 80 a. Similarly, for the user of device 80 b to move contentfrom a general application space 100 b to content field 130 on wall 18,the user of device 80 b may swipe from space 100 b generally toward theuser to field icon 146 b on device 80 b. In other words, because of thedifferent device orientations, the users swipe in the same directionsrelative to space 13 but in different directions relative to themselvesto move content to content field 130.

Referring still to FIG. 13, to move content to field 130 c on wall 16,the users of devices 80 a and 80 b swipe right and left on their devices80 a and 80 b, respectively, to content field icons 160 a and 160 b andto move content to field 130 d on wall 12, the users of devices 80 a and80 b swipe left and right on their devices 80 a and 80 b, respectively,to content fields 161 a and 161 b.

In FIG. 13, if the user of device 80 a were to change the orientation ofdevice 80 a to be consistent with the orientation of device 80 b, theinterface on device 80 a would be automatically modified to appear in afashion similar to the device 80 b shown in FIG. 13 and to operate in asimilar fashion.

Referring to FIG. 14, device 80 a is shown being used in a portraitorientation where a top interface edge 92 a is relatively closer to wall18 than to wall 14. In this orientation the device 80 a interface isagain rearranged to align with walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 and any contentfields (e.g., 130, 130 a, etc.) already created thereon. Thus, in FIG.14, the device 80 a interface includes a wall field 118 a along edge 92a that corresponds to wall 18 and also includes three content fieldicons 146 a, 148 a and 150 a that are arranged to mimic the arrangementof content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b on wall 18. Similarly, the device80 a interface includes wall fields 112 a, 114 a and 116 a thatcorrespond to walls 12, 14 and 16, respectively, where content fieldicons 160 a and 161 a that are associated with content fields 130 c and130 d on walls 16 and 12, respectively. To add a content field to anywall 12, 14, 16 or 18 (assuming a maximum number of fields have notalready been created), a device 80 a user may drag from space 100 a toany open space in one of fields 112 a, 114 a, 116 a or 118 a (i.e., toany space in one of fields 112 a, 114 a, 116 a or 118 a that does notalready include a content field icon).

In the embodiments described above, the wall fields (e.g., 112, 114, 116and 118) on the device interfaces include content field icons (e.g.,146, 148, 150) that are arranged to generally mimic the relativejuxtapositions of the content fields on the walls associated with thefields 112, 114, 116 and 118. For instance, where there are threeequispaced content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b on wall 18 in FIG. 9,three equispaced content field icons are provided in wall field 118 onthe device 80 a interface. The icon juxtapositions in field 118 mirrorthe content field juxtapositions on wall 18 irrespective of the locationof device 80 a in space 13.

In other embodiments it is contemplated that the icons in the interfacewall fields may be truly directionally arranged with respect to relativeorientation of a device 80 a to the content fields on the walls. To thisend see FIG. 15 where two devices 80 a and 80 b are shown in differentlocations relative to emissive wall 18 and where a single content field130 is presented on the left most portion of wall 18. Device 80 a islocated essentially in front of content field 130 while device 80 b islocated in front of a right hand portion of wall 18 so that field 130 isin front of and to the far left of device 80 b.

Referring still to FIG. 15, the device 80 a interface includes a wallfield 118 a along a top edge thereof with content field icon 146 a infield 118 a while the device 80 b interface includes a wall field 118 bwith a content field icon 146 b provided in wall field 118 b. Thecontent field icons 146 a and 146 b are at different relative locationsin fields 118 a and 118 b that are substantially aligned with theassociated content field 130. To this end, because content field 130 isdirectly in front of device 80 a and is centered with respect to device80 a, content field icon 146 a that is associated with field 130 isprovided centrally within field 118 a. Similarly, because content field130 is located in front of and to the left of device 80 b, content fieldicon 146 b is provided to the left in wall field 118 b.

Referring to FIG. 16, devices 80 a and 80 b are again shown in the samepositions shown in FIG. 15, albeit where three content fields 130, 130 aand 130 b are provided on emissive wall 18. In FIG. 16, the device 80 ainterface now includes three content field ions 146 a, 148 a and 150 athat are generally aligned with content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b onwall 18 with icon 146 a centered in field 118 to reflect directalignment with content field 130 and icons 148 a and 150 a to the rightthereof to align with offset fields 130 a and 130 b. Similarly, thedevice 80 ab interface now includes three content field icons 146 b, 148b and 150 b that are generally aligned with content fields 130, 130 aand 130 b on wall 18 with icon 150 b centered in field 118 b to reflectdirect alignment with content field 130 b and icons 146 b and 148 b tothe left thereof to align with offset fields 130. Although not shown inFIGS. 15 and 16, it should be appreciated that content field icons inother wall fields 112, 114 and 116 would similarly be arranged tospatially align with content fields presented on emissive walls 12, 14and 16.

Referring to FIG. 17, two devices 80 a and 80 b are shown in similarlocations to the devices shown in FIG. 16 and with three content fields130, 130 a and 130 b presented on emissive wall 18. Device 80 a isoriented the same way as device 80 a in FIG. 16 (e.g., for use inlandscape orientation). Device 80 b is oriented for use in portraitorientation. The interface on device 80 b has been changed so that thecontent field icons 146 b, 148 b and 150 b are arranged along the topedge and the relatively shorter width dimension of the device displayscreen. Again, icons 146 b, 148 b and 150 b are generally spatiallyaligned with fields 130, 130 a and 130 b on wall 18.

One problem with the directional interfaces described above wherecontent field icons are generally aligned with dynamically createdcontent fields on emissive walls in a conference room is that device 80a, etc., users will not always align devices 80 a, etc., in space 13with the emissive walls during use and the misalignment may causeconfusion. For instance, see FIG. 18 where device 80 a faces a directionthat is angled with respect to the space walls 12, 14, 16 and 18. Here,the system can identify the direction of device 80 a and generally aligninterface content field icons 146 a, 148 a, etc., with associatedcontent fields on the walls. While the field icons are substantiallyaligned with associated content fields, the misalignment of rectangulardevice 80 a with rectangular space 13 could potentially cause confusion.

One solution to the misalignment confusion problem is to provide adevice interface where the entire interface instead of just the contentfield icons always remains substantially aligned with the dynamiccontent fields and space walls on which the fields are presented. Tothis end, see FIG. 19 that shows a device 80 a that includes a displayscreen on which application output is presented and on which applicationinput is received from a device user. In FIG. 19, instead of providing aframe type interface about a general application space on screen 90 asdescribed above, a sharing interface 200 a is presented on screen 90.Interface 200 a has an appearance that is similar to the appearance ofthe frame type interface described above and, to that end, includes wallfields 212 a, 214 a, 216 a and 218 a that are akin to fields 112 a, 114a, 116 a and 118 a described above, where the fields 212 a, 214 a, 216 aand 218 a are arranged about a virtual room space. Content field icons246 a, 248 a, 250 a, 260 a and 261 a are arranged within wall fields 212a, 216 a and 218 a and to be substantially aligned with associatedcontent fields on walls 12, 14, 16 and 18. Although not shown, othercontent field icons could be presented in wall field 216 a andadditional or fewer content field icons could be presented in wallfields 212 a, 216 a and 218 a, depending on the number of content fieldspresented on the emissive walls about space 13.

Referring still to FIG. 19, interface 200 a is shown substantiallyaligned with walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 that define space 13 even thoughdevice 80 a is misaligned with space 13. Here, as a device 80 a userchanges device 80 a orientation within space 13, interface 200 a wouldchange to remain “stationary” within the space and so that wall fields212 a, 214 a, 216 a and 218 a remain stationary with respect to thespace. In some embodiments the content field icons will remainstationary in the wall fields irrespective of the location of device 80a in space 13. Thus, in FIG. 19 for instance, the locations of icons 246a, 248 a and 250 a would not change as a device 80 a user moves device80 a from adjacent wall 12 to a location adjacent wall 16.

In other cases while interface 200 a may remain stationary, field iconlocations within wall fields 212 a, 214 a, 216 a and 218 a may changebased on device 80 a location in space 13. To this end, see FIG. 20where device 80 a (and 80 a′) is shown at two different two differentlocations at two different times within a conference space. At the timecorresponding to device 80 a, the device 80 a is located directly infront of a content field 130 on wall 18 with two other content fields130 a and 130 b to the right thereof. At the time corresponding todevice 80 a′, device 80 a′ is shown located directly in front of contentfield 130 b on wall 18 with the other two content fields 130 and 130 ato the left thereof. On device 80 a, content field icons 246 a, 248 aand 250 a corresponding to content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b,respectively, are arranged with icon 246 a centrally within field 218 aand icons 248 a and 250 a arranged to the right of icon 246 a togenerally align with content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b. Similarly, ondevice 80 a′, content field icons 246 a′, 248 a′ and 250 a′corresponding to content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b, respectively, arearranged with icon 250 a′ centrally within field 218 a′ and icons 246 a′and 248 a′ arranged to the right of icon 246 a′ to generally align withcontent fields 130, 130 a and 130 b. Thus, while interface 200 a/200 a′remains “stationary” (i.e., does not rotate along with device 80 a/80 a′rotation) with respect to space 13 in this case, the content fieldlocations change to maintain alignment with content fields independentof device location within space 13.

Referring again to FIG. 19, while interface 200 a that remains“stationary” within space 13 is particularly useful and intuitive touse, interface 200 a is presented centrally on display screen 90 in thespace required for interacting with general application programs run bydevice 80 a. For this reason interface 200 a should not be persistentlypresent and should only be presented when needed by a device 80 a user.In at least some embodiments it is contemplated that during normaloperation of device 80 a to run a general application program, interface200 a would not be visually preset or would only be manifest in aminimally intrusive manner. For instance, in at least some embodiments,as shown in FIG. 19, when interface 200 a is not needed, a simple“Share” icon 194 may be presented in the lower right hand corner ofdisplay screen 90. Here, because icon 194 is small and located in onecorner of the device display screen, icon 194 only minimally affects adevice user's ability to interact with output of a general applicationon screen 90. While using device 80 a to interact with a generalapplication program, when the user wants to share content on the device80 a screen 90, the user simply selects icon 194 causing conferencingapplication to present sharing interface 200 a.

In other embodiments a desire to share and to access interface 200 a oranother sharing interface (see other embodiments above) may be gesturebased so that there is no indication of the sharing application on adevice 80 a screen until sharing is desired. For instance, a sharinggesture may require a user to touch a device display screen and draw twoconsecutive circles thereon. Other sharing gestures are contemplated. Inat least some cases a device user may be able to create her own sharinggesture and store that gesture for subsequent use during a sharingapplication commissioning procedure. Once a sharing application gestureis sensed, interface 200 a or some other interface is presented and canbe used to share content as described above.

Referring again to FIG. 9, while wall fields 112, 114, 116 and 118 andcontent field icons like icons 146, 148 and 150 can be presented on someoriented interfaces to help orient device users relative to space wallsand content fields presented thereon, in other cases an orientedinterface provided by a conferencing application may have minimal oreven no visual representation on a device display screen. Instead, asimple directional gesture like a drag or swipe on a device screentoward a wall 12, 14, 16 or 18 or toward an existing content field (e.g.130) on one of the walls may result in replication of device content. Tothis end, see FIG. 21 where the device screen 90 does not include anyvisual conferencing application interface features. Here, instead, ageneral device 80 a application may run and provide application outputon screen 90. In this case, a simple touch and sweep as indicated byhand 180 and arrow 270 toward a content field 130 a may cause contentfrom screen 90 to be replicated in field 130 a. Other directionalswiping action toward other fields would result in replication in thefields swiped toward. Other directional swiping to an open space (e.g. aspace that does not include a content field 130, 130 a, etc.) wouldresult in dynamic creation of an additional content field at thelocation swiped toward and replication of the screen 90 content in thenew field.

In at least some embodiments, when a device 80 a user presents contentin one or more content fields (e.g., 130, 130 a, etc.), the user mayhave the option to remove the user's content from the content fields inwhich the content is current shared. To this end, see FIG. 22 where aninterface akin to the interface shown in FIG. 12 is illustrated. Here,assume that the user of device 80 a has replicated content from space100 in content field 130. In this case, the device 80 a user may be ableto remove content from field 130 by simply contacting content field icon148 and dragging from the icon 148 into space 100 as indicated by arrow272. This action 272 causes device 80 a to transmit a signal toprocessor 50 instructing the processor 50 to remove the content fromfield 130.

When current content is removed from field 130, the field 130 may beeliminated or removed from wall 18. Here, when field 130 is removed, theother fields 130 a, 130 b, etc. on wall 18 may persist in their presentlocations or may be rearranged more centrally on wall 18 for optimalviewing within space 13. Where fields are removed or rearranged on wall18 or other space walls, the interfaces on devices 80 a, 80 b, etc., arealtered automatically to reflect the new arrangement of content fields.

In other cases field 130 may persist after current content is removed asa blank field to which other content can be replicated. In still othercases, when content is removed from field 130, content that existed infield 130 prior to the removed content being placed there initially mayagain be presented in field 130.

In addition to the author of content in the content fields being able toremove the content, in at least some embodiments any user of a devicethat runs the conferencing application may be able to remove contentfrom any of the content fields presented on walls 12, 14, 16 and 18. Forinstance, referring again to FIG. 22, device 80 a may be a device usedby a person that did not create the content presented in field 130.Nevertheless, here, the device 80 a user would be able to remove contentfrom field 130 in the same way described above by simply contacting icon148 associated with field 130 and dragging into space 100.

Referring again to FIG. 22, in still other embodiment, instead ofremoving content from a field, a dragging gesture from a content fieldicon (e.g., 148) associated with a content field (e.g., 130) into space100 may cause the content in field 130 to be reverse replicated in space100. Once replicated in space 100, in at least some cases, theconferencing application or some other application may enable a deviceuser to annotate or otherwise modify the content in space 100. In somecases annotations in space 100 may be replicated in real time in thefield 130 associated with the reverse replicated content. Thus, forinstance, in FIG. 22, after content in field 130 is replicated in space100, a doodle on the content in space 100 would be replicated on thecontent in field 130 in real time. In other cases annotations or othermodifications of the replicated content may not be shared in real timeand instead, may only be shared upon the occurrence of some othergesture such as a drag or swipe from space 100 back to content fieldicon 148 associated with space 130.

In at least some embodiments where content in a field (e.g., 130, 130 a)represents output of a dynamic application program run by a first device80 a and the user of a second device 80 b replicates the content on theother device 80 b, the act of replicating may cause the user of thesecond device 80 b to assume control of the dynamic application program.To this end, in some cases the second device 80 b would open an instanceof the application program stored in its own memory and obtain aninstantiation file from either processor 50 or device 80 a includinginformation usable by the application program to create the exact samecontent as the application program run on device 80 a. Once theapplication program is opened on device 80 b and the instantiation fileinformation is used to re-instantiate the content, any changes to thecontent initiated on device 80 b would be replicated in real time infield 130.

In order to order to expedite the process of a second device 80 b takingover an application program that generates shared content in space 13that is run by a first device 80 a, when any device drives a field 130,130 a, etc., with dynamic output from an application program, inaddition to transmitting the dynamic output to processor 50, the devicemay also transmit an application identifier as well as an instantiationfile to processor 50 for storage in association with the content field.Thus, for instance, where first device 80 a runs a word processorapplication and generates output in space 100 as well as in contentfield 130 in FIG. 22, in addition to transmitting data to processor 50to drive field 130, device 80 a would also transmit an identifier usableto identify the word processor application program as well as the actualdocument (e.g., a Microsoft Word document) to processor 50.

Upon receiving the image data, the program identifier and the actualdocument (e.g., an instantiation file), processor 50 drives field 130with the image data and would also store the program identifier andactual document in database 52 (see again FIG. 1) so that the identifierand document are associated with field 130. Where the content in field130 is moved to some other content field in space 13, the identifier andfile would be re-associated with the new field.

Here, when the second device 80 b is used to replicate the content fromfield 130 in space 100, processor 50 transmits the applicationidentifier and the instantiation file (e.g., the document in the presentexample) associated with field 130 to device 80 b. Upon receiving theidentifier and instantiation file, device 80 b automatically runs aninstance of the word processor application program stored in its ownmemory or obtained via a wireless connection from a remote storagelocation and uses the instantiation file to re-instantiate the documentand create output to drive field 130 with content identical to thecontent generated most recently by device 80 a. As any device 80 a, 80 bis used to modify the document in field 130, the device transmitsmodifications to processor 50 which in turn modifies the instantiationfile so that any time one device takes control of field 130 and therelated application from another device, the instantiation file is up todate and ready to be controlled by the new device.

In other cases devices 80 a, 80 b, etc., may only operate as front endinterfaces to applications that generate output to drive fields 130 andprocessor 50 may instead run the actual application programs. Forinstance, where a device 80 a user initially runs an application programto generate output in space 100 on the device screen 90 without sharingon the emissive wall surfaces in space 13, the application program maybe run from the device 80 a memory. Here, however, once device 80 a isused to share the application program output via a content field 130 onone of the walls that define space 13, instead of transmitting thecontent to processor 50, the application program identifier and theinstantiation file may be transmitted to processor 50. Upon receivingthe identifier and file, processor 50 may run its own instance of theapplication program and create the content to drive field 130. Processor50 may also be programmed to transmit the content to device 80 a to beused to drive space 100 so that device 80 a no longer needs to run theword processor application program. In effect, operation of theapplication program is transferred to processor 50 and the informationpresented in space 100 is simply a duplicate of information in field130. The device 80 a screen would still be programmed to receive inputfrom the device 80 a user for controlling the program, input resultingin commands to processor 50 to facilitate control.

In this case, when a second device 80 b is used to assume control of theapplication program, in some cases processor 50 would simply stoptransmitting the application program output to device 80 a and insteadwould transmit the output to device 80 b so that the output would appearin space 100 of device 80 b. In other cases it may be that two or moredevices 80 a, 80 b, etc., can simultaneously control one applicationprogram in which case the processor 50 may be programmed to transmit theapplication program output to two or more devices as additional devicesare used to move field content into their spaces 100.

As described above, in at least some cases content in a field 130, 130a, etc., may represent static content generated using a dynamicapplication program. For instance, device 80 a may have previously run adrawing program to generate an image where a static version of the imagewas then shared in field 130. Next, device 80 a may be used to run asecond application program to generate dynamic output shared in space130 b. While the content in space 130 in this example is static, in somecases the system may be programmed to enable re-initiation of theprogram used to generate the static content at a subsequent time so thatthe application program can be used to again change the content ifdesired. To this end, in some cases when static output of an applicationprogram is used to drive a field 130, in addition to providing thestatic content to processor 50, a device 80 a may provide theapplication program identifier and an instantiation file akin to thosedescribe above to processor 50. Here, the processor 50 stores theprogram identifier and instantiation field in association with thestatic content in database 52.

Subsequently, if any device 80 a, 80 b, etc., is used to replicate thestatic content from field 130 in space 100, processor 50 accesses theassociated program identifier and instantiation file and eitherprocessor 50 or the device (e.g., 80 a) used to replicate the field 130content then runs the program indicated by the identifier and uses thefile to re-create the dynamic output that generated the static content.Again, changes to the content on the device 80 a are replicated in realtime in the content field 130.

Thus, in at least some embodiments of this disclosure, a device 80 auser in space 13 is able to replicate device 80 a content at essentiallyany location on the walls that define space 13, replicate content fromany of the locations on the walls on the device 80 a screen, can assumecontrol of any application program that is running or that haspreviously run by any device 80 a, 80 b, etc., to generate static ordynamic content on the walls using a directional interface that is easyand relatively intuitive to operate. Sharing fields can easily be addedand removed from emissive surfaces, content can be moved around amongdifferent fields, and content can be modified in real time in any of thefields.

In addition to dragging and swiping, other content sharing and controlgestures are contemplated. For instance, in cases where the generalapplication program running in space 100 already ascribes some meaningto a simple swipe, some additional gesture (e.g., two clockwise circlesfollowed by a directional swipe) may be required to create a contentfield with replicated content. As another instance, referring again toFIG. 12, a double tap in space 100 followed by a double tap in one offields 112, 114, 116 or 118 may result in content sharing. Here, where adouble tap is on an existing content field icon such as 170, forinstance, the sharing may be in the content field 130 d associatedtherewith. Similarly, where a double tap is in space 112 but outside anyexisting field icon, a new field icon and associated content field maybe created in field 112 and on wall 12, respectively.

In still other cases tablet and other types of devices have already beendeveloped that can sense non-touch gestures proximate surfaces of thedevice screens. In some cases it is contemplated that the directionaltouch bases gestures described above may be supplemented by or replacedby non-touch directional gestures sensed by devices 80 a, 80 b adjacentdevice screens or in other spaces adjacent devices 80 a, 80 b, etc. Forinstance, in some cases a simple directional gesture near a device 80 ascreen toward one of the walls 12, 14, 16 or 18 or toward a specificcontent field 130, 130 a, etc., may cause replication of the devicecontent on an aligned wall or in an aligned field in a manner akin tothat described above.

It has been contemplated that at least some location and orientationdetermining systems may not be extremely accurate and that it maytherefore be difficult to distinguish which of two adjacent contentfields is targeting by a swipe or other gesture input via one of thedevices 80 a. This is particularly true in cases where a device 80 a isat an awkward (e.g., acute) viewing angle to a content field. For thisreason, at least one embodiment is contemplated where processor 50 mayprovide some feedback to a device user attempting to select a specifictarget content field. For instance, referring again to FIG. 21, assumethat content fields 130, 130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d and 130 e alreadyexist when device 80 a user gestures as indicated via arrow 270 in aneffort to move content from device 80 a to field 130 b. Here, it will bepresumed that the gesture 270 is not substantially aligned well withfield 130 b because of an odd viewing angle of the device 80 a user. Inthis case, processor 50 is programmed assuming that, at best, thedirection of the flipping action can only be determined to be generallytoward one of walls 12, 14, 16 or 18. Thus, gesture 270, regardless ofprecise angular trajectory, may only result in a command to replicateinformation in one of the fields 130, 130 a and 130 b on wall 18.

In response to the gesture 270, to help the device 80 a user identifywhich of the three fields the content should be replicated in, processor80 a may visually distinguish one of the fields. For instance, in FIG.21, field 130 is initially highlighted 169 to visually distinguish. Asecond gesture by the device 80 a user may either confirm that field 130is the target field or that some other field 130 a, 130 b was intended.For instance, a double tap while field 130 is highlighted may causereplication of the content in field 130. A second swipe action 271 ondevice 80 a screen 90 to the right may cause the highlight to skip fromfield 130 to the next field 130 a and then to the next field 130 b ifthe swipe continues. Here, once a field is selected, the content isreplicated in the selected field and the highlight may be removed.

In other cases a single dual action swipe where each of two consecutiveportions of the action operates as a unique command may be used. Forinstance, referring again to FIG. 21, first swipe action 270 may causeprocessor 50 to highlight the first field 130 that exists on the wall 18swiped toward. Without lifting her finger, the device 80 a user maycontinue the swipe action as at 271 to the right to move the highlightto other fields on wall 18. At any point in this action, when the userlifts her finger, the highlighted field is selected and content fromdevice 80 a is replicated in the selected field.

While a generally rectangular conference space and associated emissivewalls have been described above, it should be understood that manyaspects of the present disclosure are applicable to many otherembodiments. For instance, a conference room may only include twoemissive walls 18, 16 as in FIG. 10. Here, the directional interfacewould have characteristics that are consistent with a two wallconfiguration. For instance, instead of having four wall fields 112,114, 116 and 118 that surround a general application space 100 as inFIG. 11, the interface would only include two wall fields 116 and 118corresponding to walls 16 and 18, respectively. Similarly, a conferencespace may only include one emissive wall, three emissive walls or morethan four emissive walls. In each of these cases the interface would bemodified accordingly.

As another instance, technology currently exists for forming curvedemissive surfaces. An embodiment is contemplated where one or more flatsurfaces within a conference space may be replaced by one or more curvedemissive surfaces. For instance, in a particularly interestingembodiment curved surfaces may be configured into a cylindrically shapedroom as shown in FIG. 23. As shown, four content fields 430 a, 430 b,430 c and 430 d currently exist on a cylindrical wall 360 that defines aspace 362. A user device 80 a is located adjacent content fields 430 band 430 c as shown and is oriented so that a user thereof currentlyfaces a portion of wall 260 opposite fields 430 b and 430 c. Referringalso to FIG. 24, a directional interface 37—is presented on device 80 ascreen 90 where the directional interface 370 includes content fieldicons 446, 448, 450 and 452 corresponding to the existing content fields430 a, 430 b, 430 c and 430 d, respectively, on wall 360 as well as adevice representation 480 a corresponding to device 80 a in FIG. 23.Here, icons 446, 448, 450 and 452 are presented relative to devicerepresentation 480 a such that the relative juxtapositions reflect thejuxtaposition of actual device 80 a in space 362 relative to fields 430a through 430 d. In this case, a swipe or dragging action from devicerepresentation 480 a toward or to any one of the field icons 446, 448,450 or 452 results in replication of device 80 a content in anassociated content field 430 a through 430 d. As in embodiments above,after content has been replicated on a common content field, theinterface icons and representations in FIG. 24 is removed from screen 90so that the device 80 a user can interact with applications via screen90. Here, the only aspect of the FIG. 24 interface that may bepersistent is a share icon 194 a which can be selected to replicatedevice 80 a content again.

Referring again to FIG. 23, a second user device 80 b is shown in adifferent position in space 362. Referring to FIG. 25, an exemplaryinterface 373 on device 80 b is shown which includes content field iconsand a device 80 b representation. Here, however, because of thedifferent relative juxtaposition of device 80 b to the fields 430 athrough 430 d in FIG. 23, device representation 480 b and content fieldicons 446, 448, 450 and 452 have different relative juxtapositions. Ifdevice 80 b user moves device 80 b to the exact same location as device80 a, the interface on device 80 b would be identical to the interfacein FIG. 24.

In at least some embodiments a system may at least temporarily store allor at least a subset of content presented via common content fields onthe emissive surfaces for subsequent access during a collaborationsession. For instance, referring to FIG. 26, any time content is sharedin one of the content fields 130, 130 a, 130 b or 130 c and is thenreplaced by other content or otherwise removed from the content field,the replaced or removed content may be stored as a still image. In thecase of dynamic application output, in addition to storing a stillimage, an application identifier and an instantiation file may be storedwith the still image for, if desired, re-initiating the application torecreate the dynamic output at a subsequent time. In FIG. 26, archivedcontent is shown as still image thumbnails at 375 where the thumbnailsextends along a top portion of wall 18. Once the thumbnails extend alongthe entire width of wall 18, the additional thumbnails 375 may continuealong other walls that define a collaboration space. Here it iscontemplated that any one of the thumbnails 375 may be selected to movethe content into one of the existing content fields or into an openspace on one of the wall surfaces to create a new content field forsharing. Where an image associated with an application identifier and aninstantiation file is moved into a content field, processor 50 may causethe application program associated with the identifier to boot up anduse the instantiation file to recreate the content associated with thestill image.

In FIG. 27, a separate set of thumbnails 375 a, 375 b, 375 c is providedfor each of the content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b. Here, all contentthat is presented in field 130 and is then replaced in that field orotherwise removed, may be presented in set 375 a. Similarly, all contentthat is presented in field 130 a and is then replaced in that field orotherwise removed, may be presented in set 375 b and all content that ispresented in field 130 b and is then replaced in that field or otherwiseremoved, may be presented in set 375 c. As shown, five, two and threeimages are presented in sets 375 a, 375 b and 375 c, respectively,indicating prior content of fields 130, 130 a and 130 b.

In at least some embodiments indicators of some type may be presentedwith each content field on a space wall indicating who posted thecurrent content in the field and perhaps who posted previous content aswell. For instance, see in FIG. 27 that simple identifiers 141 and 143are provided below each content field 130 and 130 a indicating theconferee that posted the content in each field, respectively. Similaridentifiers 145 and 147, etc., are provided proximate each of the priorcontent thumbnails (e.g., the images in set 375 a, etc.) to indicateconferees that posted that content. In at least some cases identifiers141, 143, 145, etc., may be color coded to specific conferees. Forinstance, in some cases all identifiers for a conferee named “John” maybe red, all identifiers for a conferee named “Ava” may be pink, and soon.

In at least some embodiments conferees may be required to select contentto be stored in a persistent fashion as part of session work product. Tothis end, it is contemplated that a session archive file may bemaintained by processor 50 in database 52. In FIG. 28, an archive field311 is presented on the emissive surface of wall 18. Here, a user device80 a includes, in addition to the content field icons 146, 148 and 150associated with content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b, a session archiveicon 269 that is directionally aligned with session archive field 311.In this case, a device 80 a user can perform some directional gesture toadd a still image (and perhaps a related application identifier andinstantiation file) to the session archive. For instance, assume in FIG.28 that content is currently presented in content field 130 that thedevice 80 a user would like to add to the session archive. Here, thedevice 80 a user may perform a first directional drag action asindicated by arrow 297 that starts in icon 146 associated with field 130and ends in space 100 to replicate content from field 130 in space 100on device 80 a. Next, the device 80 a user may perform a seconddirectional drag action as indicated by arrow 299 that starts in space100 and ends on icon 269 to replicate content from space 100 to thesession archive 311 for storage.

To access content in the session archive 311, referring to FIG. 29, adevice 80 a user may select the session archive icon 269 and drag tospace 100 as indicated by arrow 313. As shown in FIG. 29 this actionresults in thumbnails of the archived images being presented in space100. Tapping on any one of the thumbnails in space 100 may cause thatthumbnail to be presented in large format in space 100. Here, a seconddrag action to one of the content field icons would cause the contentfrom space 100 to be replicated in an associated content field.

Referring again to FIG. 28, it should be appreciated that there areseveral advantages to providing session archive field 311 in avertically stacked fashion to one side of the content fields 130, 130 a,130 b, etc. First, by providing archive filed 311 to one side, fields130, 130 a and 130 b can be dimensioned with relatively large heightdimensions. This is important as most collaboration spaces will includeconference tables that obstruct the views of conferees of lower portionsof space defining walls. For this reason content fields should be ableto extend upward as much as possible in many cases. A content archivefield 311 to the side of the content fields enables the option forlarger height dimensions of the content fields.

Second, by presenting the archive field 311 to one side of the contentfields, the directional interface on device 80 a can be used toassociate directional gestures with the session archive field 311unambiguously. For instance, referring again to FIG. 26 where thumbnails375 are above field 130. Here, how can an interface like the onepresented via device 80 a be used to unambiguously select the archivedthumbnails as opposed to content field 130? In contrast, in FIG. 28,field 311 is the only field on wall 18 along the trajectory associatedwith gesture 299. Thus, one aspect of at least some embodiments includespresenting fields on emissive surfaces where the fields are limited tobeing arranged in a single row so that interface gestures can beunambiguously associated with specific fields.

It has been recognized that, while it is important to enable confereesto identify session content for storage in a session archive, manyconferees may also find value in being able to create their own personalarchive for a session. For instance, while viewing content presented byother conferees, a first conferee using device 80 a may see content thatis particularly interesting from a personal perspective that others inthe conference do not think is worth adding to the session archive.

In at least some embodiments the system will support creation ofpersonal archives for a session. To this end, see FIG. 30 where apersonal archive icon 271 is provided on device 80 a display screen 90.Here, to store content from space 100 in a personal archive, the device80 a user simply drags the content from space 100 to icon 271 asindicated by arrow 315. To review personal archive content, the device80 a user would simply drag from icon 271 to space 100 to accessthumbnail images of the archive content.

In some cases it is contemplated that one or more of the emissivesurfaces of walls 12, 14, 16 or 18 may be equipped to sense user touchfor receiving input from one or more conferees in space 13. To this end,many different types of finger, stylus and other pointer sensingassemblies have been developed and any one of those systems may be usedin embodiments of the present invention. Where one or more walls 12, 14,16 or 18 is touch sensitive, the wall(s) may be used to control thenumber of content fields presented, locations of content fields and alsoto control content in the content fields. For instance, referring toFIG. 31, a system user is shown at 300 adjacent wall 18 where fields 130and 130 a already exist on wall 18. The user 300 in this embodiment mayperform some gesture on or adjacent the surface of wall 18 to indicatethat a new content field 130 b (shown in phantom in FIG. 31) should becreated. For instance, the gesture may include double tapping the spaceon wall 18 associated with where field 130 b should be created. Anothergesture may be simply drawing an “N” (see “N” at 302) for new field atthe space on wall 18 associated with where field 130 b should becreated.

Once a field 130 b is created, the user 300 may be able to createcontent in field 130 b by, for instance, running a drawing or doodlingapplication. Once content is created in space 130 b, the user may beable to move the content to other walls or fields associated with space13 via directional swiping or other directional indication on the wall18 surface. To this end, in at least some embodiments it is contemplatedthat that a direction interface akin to one of the interfaces describedabove may be presented to a user either persistently when the user ismodifying content on a wall surface or upon recognition of a gestureintended to access the interface. For instance, in FIG. 31 an interfaceis shown at 320 which is shown in a larger view in FIG. 32. In FIG. 31,the interface 320 is presented adjacent the location of a user 300interacting with the wall surface and at a location that clearlyassociates the interface 320 with field 130 b as opposed to with otherfields presented on wall 18. Thus, because user 300 is interacting withfield 130 b, interface 300 is presented at a location generallyassociated with field 130 b. If the user were to move to a locationadjacent field 130 and touched the wall at field 130, the interface 320may be automatically presented adjacent field 130 in a spatialjuxtaposition that clearly associates the interface 320 with field 130as opposed to other fields on wall 18.

In FIG. 32, it can be seen that interface 320 has an appearance thatgenerally mirrors the physical layout of space 13 including wall fields312, 314, 316 and 318. In addition, content field icons 346, 348, 350,352 and 354 are presented in wall fields 312, 316 and 318 whichcorrespond to currently generated content fields 130, 130 a, 130 b, 130c and 130 d. Here, to move content from field 130 b to another one ofthe existing fields, a user may simply touch and drag content from field130 b to one of the field icons 346, 348, 352 or 354. Importantly, fieldicons 346, 348, 350, 352 and 354 are generally directionally alignedwith associated fields 130, 130 a, 130 b, 130 c and 130 d and thereforetarget content fields for content being moved should be relativelyintuitive.

It should be appreciated that if an interface like interface 320 isprovided on one of the other walls 12, 14 or 16, the content field iconson that interface would be arranged differently to generally align withthe locations of fields 130, 130 a, etc., about space 13 relative to thelocation of the interface. For instance, see FIG. 33 where an interface320′ akin to interface 320 in FIG. 32 is shown, albeit for the casewhere interface 320′ is located on wall 12 in FIG. 31. In FIG. 33,interface 320′ is substantially aligned with the spatial layout of space13 to again help orient users to walls and content fields to whichcontent can be moved/replicated. As shown, wall field 312 is at the topof interface 320′ and the other wall fields 314, 316 and 318 as well asexisting content fields 346, 348, 350, 352 and 354 are arrangedaccordingly.

In still other embodiments the wall surface interface provided by aconferencing application may be programmed to truly support directionalcontent movement. To this end, for instance, referring to FIG. 34, withcontent already presented in content field 130 b, if a user 300 swipesto the right as indicated by arrow 330, the content in field 130 b maybe moved to existing field 130 c on wall 16 as indicated by dashed arrow332. Similarly, if user 300 swipes downward (or upward) as indicated byarrow 334, the content in field 130 b may be moved to wall 14 and usedto fill a new content field 130 e as indicated by arrow 334.

In still other cases the interface may allow a user to start a contentmoving swipe gesture and continue the swipe gesture as additionalswiping causes an indicator to move about the fields on walls 12, 14, 16and 18 visually distinguishing each field 130, 130 a, etc., separatelyuntil a target content field is distinguished. Then, with a target fielddistinguished, the user may discontinue the swipe action indicating toprocessor 50 that the content should be moved to the distinguishedfield. For instance, in FIG. 35, with content initially presented infield 130, a relatively short swiping gesture in field 130 to the rightas shown by arrow 350 may cause the next field 130 a to the right offield 130 to be highlighted 352 temporarily. At this point, if user 300were to lift her finger from the wall surface, content from field 130would be moved to field 130 a. However, if the user continues the swipeaction further as indicated by arrow 356, the highlight would be removedfrom field 130 a and the next right field 130 b would be highlighted(not illustrated). Again, if the user were to lift her finger at thispoint, the content from field 130 would be moved to field 130 b.Extending the swipe action further would continue to cause the highlightto move around the wall content fields until a target field ishighlighted. In addition to highlighting, when a field is temporarilyselected, the field may be increased in size (e.g., 20%) to make thefield stand out as clearly instantaneously selected.

While the systems described above are designed around a generallyegalitarian philosophy of control where any conferee can take control atessentially any time of any content field or even create additionalcontent fields, in other embodiments the system may enforce at leastsome rules regarding how can control what and when. For instance, onesystem rule may be that where a content field on a primary wall iscurrently being controlled by one conferee, other conferees cannot takecontrol of the field until the one conferee gives up control. In FIG. 36assume that first, second and third conferees currently control fields130, 130 a and 130 b and that a fourth conferee want to present contentin one of those fields. Here, the fourth conferee's device 80 a mayinclude an “On Deck” icon 319 for receiving content waiting to be sharedvia one of the primary wall fields. The device 80 a user may dragcontent from space 100 to icon 319 to add a thumbnail associated withthe content to an on deck field 321 on the wall 18. Once a thumbnail isadded to field 321, the thumbnail is placed in a queue and will bepresented in one of fields 130, 130 a and 130 b when the thumbnail comesup in the queue and one of the fields is available. Here, again, field321 can be directionally represented by icon 319 on device 80 a forintuitive directional interaction.

In at least some embodiments other emissive surfaces may be presented ina conference space. For instance, see FIG. 37 that shows table 11 in thespace defined by emissive walls 12, 14, 16 and 18. In FIG. 37 it isassumed that at least the top surface of table 11 is emissive andtherefore can be used to present information of different types. Here,for instance, instead of requiring conferees to carry around personaldevices like devices 80 a, 80 b, etc., as described above, conferees maybe able to open up personal content in a desktop or the like presentedon the table top surface 11 and then share from the desktop to wallsurfaces that are better positioned for sharing content in thecollaboration space. To this end, in FIG. 37 several virtual desktopsare shown at 500 a through 500 e, one for each of five separateconferees. Here, it is envisioned that conferee location may beestablished about the table 11 and separate desktops generated at thelocations of the conferees. For instance, surface 11 may be touchsensitive and a first conferee touch at a location may be sensed andcause a desktop to open. After identifying a specific conferee, contentfor the conferee may be accessible in the desktop.

Referring also to FIG. 38, an exemplary desktop 500 e is illustrated.Desktop 500 e includes a general application workspace 502 in a centralarea as well as a frame around space 502 in which content field icons546 through 556 are presented, a separate field icon for each of theexisting content fields in FIG. 37. Comparing FIGS. 37 and 38 it shouldbe appreciated that the field icons 546 through 556 are eachdirectionally aligned with an associated one of the content fields 130 athrough 130 f. Thus, for instance, field icon 546 would be substantiallyaligned with content field 130 a in FIG. 37 while field icon 556 wouldbe substantially aligned with content field 130 f. Here, as in theembodiments described above, content from space 502 may be replicated ina content field in FIG. 37 by directionally swiping or otherwisedirectionally gesturing from space 502 toward or to one of the icons 546through 556. A new content field may be created by directionallygesturing as indicated by arrow 520 to an open space in the border. Tothis end see also the phantom field 130 in FIG. 37 that would be createdpursuant to the action associated with arrow 520 in FIG. 38. Where a newfield is added to one of the space walls (e.g., field 130), a newcontent field icon would be added to the desktop 500 e in a locationaligned with the new field. Other operational features and optionsdescribed above with respect to other interfaces may be supported in asimilar fashion in the context of virtual desktop 500 c.

Referring again to FIG. 37, while the interfaces provided with eachdesktop have similar general characteristics, the field icons (e.g., 546through 556 in FIG. 38) would be located differently so that they woulddirectionally align with the content fields 130 a through 130 f toprovide an intuitive directional interface. To this end, see exemplaryvirtual desktop 500 a in FIG. 39 where field icons 546, 548, 550, 552,554 and 556 are arranged about a border area so that, from theperspective of desktop 500 a in FIG. 37, the icons should align withassociated content fields 130 a through 130 f, respectively, tofacilitate directional replication and other directional interfaceactivities as described above.

In at least some cases it is contemplated that the emissive wallsurfaces may be formed using large flat panel displays arranged edge toedge. To this end, see FIG. 40 where a generally rectilinear conferencespace 13 is defined by four walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 and where large flatpanel displays 600 a through 600 g are mounted to the walls. Two large(e.g., 80 to 100 inch diagonal) displays 600 a and 600 b are mounted towall 18 in an edge to edge arrangement so that the wall surface at leastabove a table top height (and perhaps extending to a lower level) isessentially emissive (expect for the portion covered by thin bezelsaround each display). A single large flat panel display 600 c is mountedto wall 16 and a single large flat panel display 600 d is mounted towall 12. A single large flat panel display 600 e is mounted to wall 14and two smaller but still relatively large flat panel displays 600 f and600 g are mounted to wall 14 adjacent panel 600 e so that wall 14 issubstantially covered by emissive flat panel surfaces (except for wherethe space egress would be located).

In FIG. 40, the system server would operate in a fashion similar to thatdescribed above to enable dynamic creation of content fields on theemissive surfaces arranged about space 13 to suit the needs of confereeslocated in space 13 and to provide intuitive dynamic directionalinterfaces for the conferees to control the creation of content fieldsand the content presented in each of the fields. For instance, in FIG.40, five content fields 130 a through 130 e are shown on the paneldisplays 600 a and 600 b. Content field 130 c is located centrally withrespect to displays 600 a and 600 b and therefore is shown half on thesurface of display 600 a and half on the surface of display 600 b. Onecontent field 130 f is provided on display 600 c and two content fields130 i and 130 h are provided on display 600 d. As shown, the sizes ofthe fields on displays 600 a through 600 d are different and may be afunction of the number of content fields created on the displaysassociated with each wall. To this end, the five fields field 130 athrough 130 f on wall 18 are relatively smaller than the two fields 130h and 130 i on wall 12 which are in turn relatively smaller than thesingle field 130 f on wall 16. A single large field 130 g is provided onthe combined emissive surfaces of the three displays 600 e through 600g. Where the display bezels are relatively thin, any content field thattraverses across bezels of adjacent display screens will be onlyminimally disrupted and should not affect content presentationsubstantially.

Referring still to FIG. 40, a single portable conferee device 80 a isshown in space 13 where, consistent with the description above, agraphical interface on the device display 90 includes a separate wallfield 112, 114, 116 and 118 for each of the space walls 12, 14, 16 and18, respectively, as well as content field icons for each of the contentfields provided on the display screens about space 13. To this end,exemplary field icons 646, 648 and 650 in wall field 118 correspond tospatially substantially aligned content fields 130 a through 130 c onwall 18 and field icons 652, 654, 656 and 658 in wall fields 116, 114and 112 correspond to content fields 130 f, 130 g, 130 h and 130 i,respectively, on walls 16, 14 and 12. As shown, the sizes of the fieldicons 648 through 658 may be different and may be related to therelative sizes of associated content fields. For instance, field icon646 corresponding to relatively small content field 130 a on wall 18 issubstantially shorter than content field icon 652 corresponding torelatively large content field 130 f on wall 16. In addition to thedirectional aspect of the interface where field icons are directionallysubstantially aligned with related content fields, the different sizesof the field icons that are associated with different content fieldsizes help orient a device user within space 13.

In some embodiments an conferee interface may enable a conferee toaccess the content of more than one field at a time. For instance, seeFIG. 41 where the content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b on wall 18 arereplicated in workspace 100 on device 80 a as fields 662, 664 and 668.To facilitate this interface view of the fields on wall 18, a swipingaction as shown by arrow 660 may be performed where the swipe begins inat a location in wall field 118 that is not associated with one of thecontent field icons 146, 148, 150 (i.e., initiated from a locationbetween the field icons). This should be compared to FIG. 22 whereswiping from a content field icon (e.g., 148) into space 100 causes thecontent from the single content field 130 a associated with icon 148 tobe replicated in space 100.

In some embodiments other directional queues are contemplated. Forinstance, see FIG. 42 where the directional queues on device 80 a and 80b interfaces include single wall fields 118 and 116 corresponding towalls proximate and most aligned with top edges of devices 80 a and 80b. Here, it is assumed that devices 80 a and 80 b are only used in theportrait orientation and a directional wall field is only provided alonga top portion of the interface. In other cases devices may only be usedin landscape mode and a directional wall field may only be providedalong a long edge of the interface furthest away from a device user. Inaddition to enabling a potentially larger workspace 100 a, 100 b due toelimination of three of the wall fields about space 100 a, 100 b, theFIG. 42 interface allows full content replication of content in contentfields on a wall that is “faced” by each device 80 a, 80 b. Forinstance, because device 80 a is facing wall 18, content fields 682, 684and 686 in wall field 118 may replicate the content in fields 130, 130 aand 130 b on faced wall 18. Similarly, because device 80 b is facingwall 16, content field 680 in wall field 116 replicates the content infield 130 c on faced wall 16. If device 80 a were reoriented to theorientation of device 80 b in FIG. 42, the interface on device 80 a maybe essentially identical to the interface on device 80 b.

In FIG. 42, in at least some cases multidirectional swiping action wouldbe supported despite the fact that the illustrated interfaces onlyreplicates a subset of the content field information about space 13.Thus, for instance, in these cases, a swipe as indicated by arrow 690toward wall 12 would replicate content from space 100 b in a contentfield on wall 12 while a swipe toward wall 18 would replicate contentfrom space 100 b in a field on wall 18. In other cases directionalswiping may only be supported for swiping action toward the single wallfield presented on a device interface so that a device user would haveto turn the user's device toward a wall in order to replicate contentinto a content field on the wall. For instance, in FIG. 42, becausedevice 80 a currently faces wall 18, swiping action may only be towardthat wall to cause content replication on that wall and any otherswiping action to other walls (e.g., 12, 16) may not cause replication.To use device 80 a to replicate on wall 16, device 80 a would have to berotated and reoriented as is device 80 b at which point a forward swipewould replicate to wall 16.

In some embodiments device interfaces may enable sharing on more thanone emissive surface at a time when a specific control gesture isperformed. For instance, see FIG. 43 where a dual tap is causes multiplesurface sharing. More specifically, in FIG. 43, a dual tap in space 100may cause interface 80 a to send the content from space 100 to thesystem server along with a command to replicate the content on each ofthe four walls 12, 14 16 and 18 in relatively large content fields 130a, 130 b, 130 c and 130 d as shown. Here, because only content fromspace 100 is replicated, fields 130 a through 130 d may be as large aspossible given the dimensions of the walls 12 through 18. If a seconduser device were used to share on walls 12, 14, 16 and 18, in some casesthe sharing action may simply replace content shared in FIG. 43 withcontent from the second device. In other cases, a second sharing actionvia a second device that follows a first sharing action via a firstdevice 80 a may cause the content fields 130 a through 130 d to be madesmaller and may cause an additional four field 130 e, 130 f, 130 g and130 h to be created for replicating the content from the second device.To this end, see FIG. 44 that shows second device 80 a and additionalcontent fields 130 e through 130 h. This process of replicating on allwalls upon the specific sharing action may continue as other sharingactions are performed via other device.

It at least some embodiments it is contemplated that a history ofcontent shared on the common emissive surfaces in a space 13 may bestored for subsequent access and viewing. To this end, in some cases thesystem server may simply track all changes to the shared content so thatthe content shared at any point in time during a session may beaccessed. In other cases the server may periodically store content suchas, for instance, every 15 minutes or every hour so that snapshots ofthe content at particular times can be accessed. In still otherembodiments content may be stored whenever a command from a conferee tosave a snapshot of the content is received via one of the confereedevices (e.g., 80 a) or via one of the control interfaces. For instance,see selectable “Save” icon 701 in FIG. 22 that may be selected by anyconferee to save an instantaneous snapshot of content in the contentfields presented on walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 along with informationspecifying the arrangement of the fields on the walls.

Where content history is stored, the content may be re-accessed on thewalls 12, 14, 16 and 18. For instance, see in FIG. 22 that a selectable“History” icon 700 is provided via device 80 a. When icon 700 isselected, a timeline interface like the one in FIG. 45 may be providedfor selecting a point in time at which the content is to be viewed. TheFIG. 45 interface includes a timeline 702 corresponding to the period oftime associated with a conferencing session. In FIG. 45 the timeline 702indicates a period between 9 AM and 3 PM. Other shorter and longer(e.g., multiple days) session period are contemplated where the timebreakdown in FIG. 45 would automatically reflect the duration of asession.

Referring still to FIG. 45, a device 80 a user may move a time linepointer icon 704 along timeline 702 to select different times during theperiod of a session. Her, it is contemplated that as the icon 704 isslid along the timeline 702, the content presented in the content fields(e.g., 130 a, 130 b, etc.) on the emissive surfaces that surround thespace and the content field number and arrangement on the surfaces wouldchange essentially instantaneously so that conferees in the space 13could be, in effect, virtually ported back in time to view the contentat the times corresponding to the time selected via icon 704. In FIG.45, the content in a single field is represented at four different times9 AM, 10 AM, 11 AM and 3 PM, by different instances of the single fieldlabeled 130 a 1, 130 a 2, 130 a 3 and 130 a 4, respectively. Thus, whenicon 704 selects time 9 AM on timeline 702, the content in the singlefield would be the content corresponding to 130 a 1, when icon 704selects time 10 AM, the content in the single field would be the contentcorresponding to 130 a 2, and so on. While not shown in FIG. 45, thecontent field numbers and arrangement and the content in the othercontent fields during the session would change along with the content inthe single field to reflect the combined content of all fields at theselected time. At an point the device 80 a user may lift her finger fromicon 704 to cause the content associated with the selected time topersist on the emissive surfaces. At any time a “View Current Content”icon 706 may be selected as shown in FIG. 45 to return to the mostrecently shared content (i.e., to a current content view).

Other ways to access a stored content history are contemplated. Forinstance, referring to FIG. 46, a device 80 a may be programmed torecognize a pinching action as at 720 on the device screen as anindication to access content history where the pinch causes multipleframes 722, 724, 726, 728, etc., of wall fields to be presented whereeach frame corresponds to a different point in time that is selectableto replicate the content from that point in time on the emissivesurfaces that surround space 13. In FIG. 46 there are four framescorresponding to times 9 AM, 10 AM, 11 AM and current (e.g., the currenttime). Selecting one of the frames would cause the content associatedwith that time to be presented in the space 13.

In some embodiments the interface may support other functions. To thisend, see FIG. 47 where an interface on a device 80 a enables a deviceuser to copy, cut, send, markup or move content presented in one of thecontent fields (e.g., 130, 130 a, 130 b, etc.). For instance, in FIG.47, when a user contacts content field icon 148 corresponding to contentfield 130 a as shown and maintains contact for a threshold period (e.g.,two seconds), the illustrated pull down menu 750 may be provided inspace 100 including a set of selectable touch icons for causingdifferent functions including the copy, cut, send, markup and movefunctions. Selecting one of the supported functions would cause theinterface to provide other on screen tools for carrying out the selectedfunction.

Other interfaces similar to those described above for moving contentabout space 13 surfaces are contemplated. For instance, see FIG. 48where one wall 18 that defines a space is shown which includes threevirtual content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b at the time corresponding tothe illustration. A user device 80 a is oriented as shown. Here, when auser swipes on the surface of the device 80 a display 90 toward wall 18as indicated by arrow 779, a phantom or other representation (e.g., theactual content) 780 of the content on display 90 is created on the wall18. With representation 780 on wall 18, display 90 may simply become adirectional touch pad until representation 780 is moved to an intendedlocation on wall 18. For instance, see FIG. 49 where, afterrepresentation 780 is presented on wall 18, a duplication 782 of thecontent fields 130, 130 a, 130 b, etc., on wall 180 including field 783corresponding to content field 130 b and the content in the fields ispresented on screen 90 as is a duplication 784 of representation 780 toprovide a visual queue to invite a device user to move the content inrepresentation 780 to an intended location. The juxtaposition of image784 with respect to the content fields (e.g., 783) on screen 90 isidentical to the juxtaposition of representation 780 with respect tocontent field 130, 130 a and 130 b on wall 18 which results in anintuitive interface. IN at least some embodiments the representations780 and 784 may be visually distinguished in a similar manner to helpthe device user understand the relationship between the tworepresentations. For instance, in some cases each representation may bepresented with a red or yellow outline or highlight about therepresentations to help the user associate the two representations.

Here, the intended location for the content associated withrepresentation 780 may be any one of content fields 130, 130 a or 130 bor may be some other location on wall 18. Other locations may include alocation 786 to the left of content fields 130, 130 a and 130 b, alocation to the right of fields 130, 130 a and 130 b or any locationbetween two fields (e.g., to a location between fields 130 and 130 a).To move content to field 130 b on wall, a user drags representation 784to field 783 on screen 90 as shown at 788 causing representation 780 onwall 18 to similarly move toward and to field 130 b as indicated byarrow 790. Where the content is moved to a location between two adjacentfields or to a side of the fields where there currently is no space onthe wall 18, the other fields on the wall may be slid over or resized toaccommodate a new field. After content in representation 780 has beenmoved to an intended location, the interface on display 90 mayautomatically revert back to one of the standard interfaces (e.g., seeFIG. 48) described above.

Referring still to FIG. 49, in addition to providing the visualrepresentation of wall 18 fields as well as representation 784 on screen90, the interface may also provide other temporary guidance to thedevice 80 a user to select possible locations for the content associatedwith representation 780 as well as to coax or encourage the device 80 auser into completing the location selection process. For instance, seeFIG. 50 where the device interface on screen 90 includes the fieldrepresentations 782 as well as representation 784 corresponding torepresentation 780 on wall 18. In addition, the interface includestarget tags 800 a through 800 g selectable for indicating a location onwall 18 to which the content should be moved. Here, by dragging image784 to one of the target tags or by selecting one of the targets, thecontent associated with image 784 can be moved to the selected location.

Referring still to FIG. 50, while the target tags 800 a through 800 eare only shown on display 90, in other embodiments the tags may beprovided on the wall 18 in similar locations. Referring to FIGS. 49 and50, while the visual queues for moving content around on wall 18 orother space walls may be provided on the walls themselves as indicatedby representation 780, in other embodiments the queues may only beprovided on the user device display 90. Thus, for instance, in FIG. 49,representation 780 may not be provided. In this case the device 80 auser would only use the visual queues on display 90 to select the finallocation for presenting the content in the manner described above.Providing the content movement controls on only the user deviceinterface has the advantage of not distracting other persons in space 13during a sharing or conferencing session as a device user works throughthe process of moving content about on the space wall surfaces. On theother hand, where at least some visual queues are presented on theemissive surfaces in the space 13, the queues may provide some sense ofwhat is happening in the space as content is being changed, moved,modified, etc.

In some embodiments it is contemplated that content field size,rotational angle and other attributes of fields on conference spacewalls may be changed and that fields may be presented in an overlappingfashion. To this end, see FIG. 51 where wall 18 is shown having contentfields 830 a through 830 f displayed. Field 830 b overlaps field 830 aand field 830 c overlaps field 830 b. Similarly field 830 f overlapsfield 830 e while field 830 d stand alone. While each of fields 830 b,830 d and 830 f have generally vertical and horizontal boundaries, theother fields 830 a, 830 c and 830 e are angled (e.g., have beenrotated). In this case, in at least some embodiments, when a directionalgesture as at 810 is performed to move content from a user devicedisplay 90 to wall 18, a representation of all fields on wall 18 may bepresented on display 90 for facilitating selection of a desired locationfor the new content as shown at 812. In addition to showing the existingfields at 812, a phantom or full representation 814 of the content beingmoved onto the wall 18 from device 80 a is provided on display 90 whichthe device user can move (e.g., via dragging, selection of an existingfield if the new content is to replace existing content, etc.) ondisplay 90 to the desired location with respect to the fields inrepresentation 812. After the desired location is selected, the deviceuser can select an “enter” icon 816 to complete the selection. Once icon816 is selected, the new content is presented on wall 18 in the locationselected by the device user via device 80 a. In this example, because novisual queues were provided on wall 18, the content update simply occursafter selection by the device user without disrupting or disturbingconferees in the conference space.

In the case of the FIG. 51 embodiment, a directional swiping gesture inanother direction such as to the right toward wall 16 as indicated byarrow 820 would result in the content from wall 16 located to the rightof device 80 a being represented on display 90 as well as representation814 being presented on the display 90 as above. In this case, movementof icon 814 on display 90 would select a location on wall 16 to theright as opposed to on wall 18.

Referring to FIG. 52, another interface is shown on display 90 that issimilar to the interface shown in FIG. 51, albeit where wall fields 112,114, 116 and 118 frame a device workspace 100. Here, to provide thefield representations from wall 18 on display 90, a device user swipesfrom space 100 into field 118 associated with wall 18 as indicated byarrow 830. As shown in FIG. 53, the swipe 830 causes device 80 a togenerate a representation 812 of the fields and content from wall 18 inspace 100 and also to provide representation 814 that corresponds to thecontent in field 100 prior to swipe 830. Again, the device user can moverepresentation 814 to a desired location with respect to the contentfields represented in space 100 and select the enter icon 816 to add thenew content to wall 18 in a corresponding location.

Referring again to FIG. 52, a swipe from wall field 118 corresponding towall 189 into space 100 as indicated at 840 may cause the content fieldsand related content from the entire wall 18 to be represented 850 inspace 100 as shown in FIG. 54. Here, instead of being used to place newcontent on wall 18, the interface would be used to move existing content(e.g., content fields or content presented in a content field) about onwall 18. The content fields in representation 850 may be selected andmoved in space 100 relative to each other to move those fields and therelated content to other locations on wall 18. For instance, see themovement of field representation 856 in space 100 indicated by arrow 858which results in immediate movement of field 830 c on wall 18 asindicated by arrow 860.

Referring still to FIG. 54, in some embodiments, with the content fieldsrepresented in space 100, one of the content fields may be selected ondisplay 90 to be increased in size to take up the entire space 100 sothat the device user can better see the content, change (e.g., annotate)the content, etc. For instance, a double tap as indicated at 852 oncontent field 854 on display 90 may cause field 854 to resize and coverthe entire space 100 as shown at 854 a in FIG. 55.

At least some embodiments of the present disclosure include other shapesor relative juxtapositions of emissive surfaces within a conferencespace. For instance, see FIG. 55 that shows a portion of an exemplaryconference space wall structure 900 that includes substantially verticaltop and bottom portions 902 and 904 and a tray extension substructure906 including at least a substantially horizontal member 908 that formsa substantially horizontal upwardly facing surface 910. While surface910 may be horizontal, in some embodiments surface 910 will form aslightly obtuse angle (e.g., between 90 degrees and 120 degrees) withthe surface of top wall portion 902. In the embodiment of FIG. 56, asupport brace member 912 extends from a top edge of bottom portion 904to a distal edge of horizontal member 908.

In some cases the structure shown in FIG. 56 may be formed via a singlecurved emissive surface where the visible surfaces in FIG. 56 are allemissive and capable of presenting content to a system user. In othercases only portions of the surfaces visible in FIG. 56 may be emissiveor portions of the visible surfaces in FIG. 56 may be formed usingdifferent flat panel displays. For instance, in many cases only thevisible surfaces of top portion 902 and horizontal member 908 will beused to present information and therefore, in some cases, only thosesurfaces will be emissive. In some cases top portion 902 may be providedvia a large flat panel display and surface 910 may be provided via anelongated flat panel display structure. Hereinafter, unless indicatedotherwise, member 908 will be referred to as a tray member 908 andsurface 910 will be referred to as a tray surface 910.

The overall height of the wall structure 900 may be around the height ofa normal conference wall (e.g., 8 to 11 feet high). Tray member 908 willbe located at a height that is comfortable for a normal adult standingadjacent the structure 900 to reach with an arm. For instance, surface910 may be anywhere between 28 inches and 43 inches above an ambientfloor surface. Surface 910 will have a width dimension Wd between 4inches and 18 inches and, in most cases, between eight and twelveinches.

Referring to FIG. 57, two walls 902 a and 902 b of a conference spacethat are constructed using wall structure like the structure shown inFIG. 55 are illustrated where tray surfaces 910 a and 910 b extend alongthe entire length of each wall member 902 a and 902 b. Virtual contentfields 930 a, 930 b and 930 c are shown on the top portion of wallstructure 902 a and other content fields (not labeled) are presented onthe other wall 902 b. A portion of surface 910 a at the locationindicated by arrow 916 is shown in top plan view. A virtual interface920 that has features similar to some of the interface featuresdescribed above is provided on surface 910 a. The interface 920 may bepresented anywhere along surface 910 a or at any location along anyother tray surface (e.g., 910 b, etc.). Interface 920 enables aninterface user to add new content to wall 902 a or to any of the otherwalls represented on the interface, to move content about on the spacewalls, to remove content from the walls, etc. In addition, interface 920includes a session archive 940 that includes all session imagespreviously shared on the space walls during a conference session. Inthis case, it is contemplated that any session image in space 940 may bemoved via dragging, double clicking action, etc., into the interfaceworkspace 942 to access the image and the image in the workspace 942 maybe moved to one of the content fields on the space walls via adirectional gesture in space 942 similar to the gestures describedabove.

To associate a specific system user with the user's content for sharing,the user may be able to log onto the system by contacting any emissivesurface and being presented with a log on screen at the contactedlocation. For instance, the contacted location may be anywhere on anemissive wall surface or at a location on one of the tray surfaces. Asanother instance, where the top surface of a conference table isemissive, the contacted location may be anywhere on the top surface ofthe conference table. Once logged on, a desktop including the user'scontent may be provided at the contacted location. Where a user movesabout a conference space to locations adjacent other emissive surfacesor other portions of emissive surfaces, the user's desktop mayautomatically move along with the conferee. For instance, in at leastsome cases, after a specific user logs onto a network at a specificlocation within a conference space and after the user's identity isdetermined and the user is associated with the user's desktop, camerasmay be used to track movement of the user within the space to differentlocations and the desktop may be moved accordingly so that the user neednot re-log on to access the user's content/desktop.

Referring again to FIG. 1, exemplary cameras 960 are shown in space 13for capturing images of scenes within space 13 for, among other things,tracking locations of conferees within the space 13. The cameras may besimilar to the types of cameras used by Microsoft in the Kinect gamingsystem or other similar types of camera systems.

In addition to determining conferee locations within space 13 andproviding desktops or other interfaces at conferee locations within thespace, the cameras 960 may also be used instead of or in conjunctionwith the access points 56 to determine locations, relativejuxtapositions and orientations of user devices (e.g., 80 a) within thespace 13. For instance, Kinect type cameras may be programmed to sensedevices and orientations in a space 13 and feed that information tosystem processors for driving the interface based features describedabove.

It has been recognized that the optimal or preferred height of a traymember (e.g., see 908 in FIG. 56) will depend on who is using the traymember where taller persons will likely prefer a higher tray member thanshorter persons. For this reason, in at least some embodiments, it iscontemplated that a tray member may be height adjustable. For instance,see FIG. 58 where vertical tracks 970 are formed in the lower portion ofwall structure 902 and where tray member 908 is mounted to first andsecond carriages 972 to the tracks 970 for up and down vertical movementalong a range of different heights. Carriages 972 extend down from anundersurface of tray member 908 to engage tracks 970 so that, even whentray 908 is in the lower position illustrated, the top portions oftracks 970 remain generally below member 908. In FIG. 58, member 908 isshown is a second higher position in phantom at 908 a.

In at least some embodiments, when tray member 908 in FIG. 58 is raisedor lowered, the dimensions of all content fields presented there abovemay be adjusted so that the content in the fields can remain visible,albeit at a different scale. For instance, in FIG. 58, an exemplarycontent field when tray member 908 is in the lower position illustratedis labeled 980. When the tray member is moved to the location indicatedat 908 a, content field 980 dimensions are reduced as indicated at 980 aso that a smaller version of the content is presented above the tray 908a and the tray does not obstruct viewing of the content field 980 a. Inan alternative embodiment, if structure 902 extends above field 980(e.g., by 1-2 feet) when tray 908 is in the lower position, as the trayis raised to the higher position, the content field may simply be raisedalong therewith while the dimensions remain the same.

While the interfaces described above are described as touch based wheresensors identify contact gestures (e.g., swipes, pinches, taps, etc.) ona display screen surface, in at least some embodiments the interfacesmay be configured with sensors to sense gestures in three dimensionalspace proximate display interfaces without requiring screen surfacetouch. For instance, some Samsung smart phones now support non-touchgesture sensing adjacent the phone display screens for flipping througha set of consecutive pictures, to answer an incoming phone call, etc. Inat least some embodiments any of the gestures described above may beimplemented in a content sharing application on a Samsung or other smartdevice that supports non-touch gestures so that directional interfaceslike those described above can be configured.

In other cases sensors proximate or built into other emissive surfacesin a conference space may support non-touch gesture activity. Forinstance, where an interface is provided on a tray surface 908 as inFIGS. 56 and 57, non-touch gesture based sensors may be built into thestructure 902 shown in FIG. 56 for sensing gestures adjacent surface908. As another instance, in FIG. 2, in cases where the table topsurface 60 is emissive, non-touch gesture sensors may be built into thetable assembly for sensing non-touch gesture proximate one or morevirtual desktops provided to system users on the surface 60. In someembodiments non-touch gesture sensing may only be supported at specificlocations with respect to furniture artifacts in a conference space.

Thus, in at least some embodiments that are consistent with at leastsome aspects of the present disclosure, interface user intention to movecontent about on emissive surfaces within a conference space isdetermined based on gestures performed by a user on an interface, thelocation and orientation of the interface with respect to artifactswithin the conference space and the locations and relativejuxtapositions of dynamic and changing content fields on emissivesurfaces in the space.

While some of the systems described above determine orientation of aninterface with respect to emissive surfaces and content fields in aconference space directly, in other cases interface orientation may beinferred from information about locations and orientations of other userdevices or even features of device users. For instance, if confereeswear identification badges and the orientation of an identificationbadge can be determined via sensing, it may be assumed that a confereeis facing in a specific direction within a space based on orientation ofthe conferee's badge.

As another instance, cameras (e.g., 960 in FIG. 1) may be programmed torecognize conferee faces and determine orientations of conferee heads ina conference space and may provide directional interfaces via one ormore emissive surfaces based on facing direction of a conferee. In thisregard see FIG. 59 where a system user is located within a space definedby walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 and that includes a table 992 having anemissive top surface. Kinect (by Microsoft) or similar types of cameras960 are provided about the space to obtain images of one or moreconferees within the space. Here, when a conferee enters the space aprocessor may examine images obtained by cameras 960 and determine thelocation and orientation (e.g., which way the conferee is facing) of theconferee within the space and automatically provide display andinterface tools via emissive surfaces in the space that are oriented foroptimized use by the conferee. Thus, for example, in FIG. 59, becausethe conferee is facing wall 18 and is on a side of table 992 oppositewall 18, the system may automatically provide an interface (e.g., adesktop image) 994 along an edge of the table opposite wall 18 as wellas a heads up content window or display 996 on the top surface of table992. As another example, see FIG. 60 where the conferee faces wall 16instead of wall 18. Here, after face recognition is used to determinethat the conferee is facing wall 16 and on a side of table 992 oppositewall 16, the system automatically presents interface 994 a facing wall16 as well as content field or display 996 a on wall 16 substantiallyaligned with interface 994 a. If the conferee moves to a differentlocation about the table 992, the interface 994 and display 996 will bemoved to a different location to accommodate the new location andorientation.

One or more specific embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed above. It should be appreciated that in the development of anysuch actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project,numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve thedevelopers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related andbusiness related constraints, which may vary from one implementation toanother. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a developmenteffort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be aroutine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those ofordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

Thus, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, andalternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the following appended claims. For example, while thespecification above describes alignment of content sharing tools on apersonal device or personal interface with content fields on commondisplay surfaces, alignment may not be exact and instead may be within ageneral range. For instance, substantial alignment may in some casesmean alignment within a 45 degree range, a 60 degree range or otherranges. In particularly useful embodiments the alignment may be within arange of plus or minus 30 degrees, plus or minus 15 degrees or plus orminus 5 degrees, depending on capabilities of the system that determinesdevice or interface orientation and juxtaposition within a space orother factors such as the number and locations of content fields on theemissive surfaces in a space.

As another example, in some embodiments when a content field is created,the content field may be provided with a field specific label (e.g.,“Field 7”) to distinguish the field from other fields on common displayscreens within a conferencing space. Here, the user interfaces providedon portable devices or on other emissive surfaces within the space mayprovide content filed selection icons with the field specific labels tohelp a user identify content fields to which device content is beingmoved. The field specific labels may be provided on interfaces that donot dynamically align or on interfaces that do dynamically align withthe content fields in the space. In some cases the field specific labelsmay also each indicate the conferee that generated the content currentlypresented in the content field. For instance, see again FIG. 27 wherelabels 141 and 143 indicate content generating conferees and alsouniquely distinguish the content field form each other. In this case,the user interface would include field specific labels such as “John”,“Jean” and “Ava” with each of the content field icons on the interfaceso that the icons can be easily associated with related content fieldsand so that the conferee that generated the content in each contentfield can be identified.

To apprise the public of the scope of this invention, the followingclaims are made:

What is claimed is:
 1. A conferencing arrangement for sharinginformation within a conference space, the arrangement comprising: acommon presentation surface positioned within the conference space, thecommon presentation surface including a presentation surface area; acommon presentation surface driver; a system processor linked to thedriver, the system processor receiving information content andpresenting the information content via the common presentation surface;and a user interface device including a device display screen and adevice processor, the device processor programmed to provide a dynamicinterface via the device display screen that is usable to create anarbitrary number of distinct sharing spaces on the presentation surfacearea for sharing information content and to automatically modify theinterface to include features for controlling content presented in thesharing spaces as the number of distinct sharing spaces is altered. 2.The arrangement of claim 1 wherein the user interface device ispositioned in a specific orientation with respect to the commonpresentation surface and wherein the features for controlling contentpresented in the sharing spaces include sharing features on the devicedisplay screen that are substantially aligned with associated distinctsharing spaces.
 3. The arrangement of claim 2 wherein each feature forcontrolling content includes a graphical feature.
 4. The arrangement ofclaim 1 wherein the common presentation surface is a first commonpresentation surface, the arrangement including at least a second commonpresentation surface that is angled with respect to the first commonpresentation surface and that includes presentation surface area, thedynamic interface usable to create an arbitrary number of distinctsharing spaces on the presentation surface areas for sharing informationcontent.
 5. The arrangement of claim 4 wherein the angle between thefirst and second common presentation surfaces is less than 120 degrees.6. The arrangement of claim 4 wherein the first and second commonpresentation surfaces form wall surfaces of the conference space.
 7. Thearrangement of claim 6 further including at least a third commonpresentation surface that is substantially parallel to the firstpresentation surface and that forms presentation surface area, thedynamic interface usable to create an arbitrary number of distinctsharing spaces on the presentation surface areas for sharing informationcontent.
 8. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of thecommon presentation surface is concave toward the conference space. 9.The arrangement of claim 1 further including a conference table arrangedin the conference space, the user interface device built into a topsurface of the conference table.
 10. The arrangement of claim 9 whereinthe user interface device is a first user interface device, thearrangement further including a second user interface device including asecond device display screen and a second device processor, the seconddevice processor programmed to provide a dynamic second interface viathe second device display screen that is also usable to control thenumber of distinct sharing spaces on the presentation surface area forsharing information content and to automatically modify the secondinterface to include features for controlling content presented in thesharing spaces as the number of distinct sharing spaces is altered viaany one of the interface devices.
 11. The arrangement of claim 10wherein the first user interface device is positioned in a specificorientation with respect to the common presentation surface and whereinthe features for controlling content presented in the sharing spacesinclude sharing features on the first device display screen that aresubstantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces andwherein the second user interface device is positioned in a specificorientation with respect to the common presentation surface and whereinthe features for controlling content presented in the sharing spacesinclude sharing features on the second device display screen that aresubstantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces.
 12. Thearrangement of claim 1 wherein the presentation surface and driverinclude an electronic display screen.
 13. The arrangement of claim 1wherein the presentation surface area includes first and secondpresentation surface areas, each of which is dividable into sharingspaces, the second presentation surface area presenting a mirror imageof the sharing spaces and content in the sharing spaces on the firstpresentation surface area, the interface including features forcontrolling content presented in the sharing spaces of the firstpresentation surface area.
 14. The arrangement of claim 13 wherein thesecond presentation surface area substantially opposes the firstpresentation surface area.
 15. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein eachsharing space has similar default dimensions.
 16. The arrangement ofclaim 15 wherein the interface enables modification to the dimensions ofany of the sharing spaces.
 17. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein, assharing spaces are added to the presentation surface area, the sharingspaces are provided in a single row of adjacent sharing spaces.
 18. Thearrangement of claim 1 wherein the system processor is programmed to, asshared information is replaced in one of the sharing spaces, present athumbnail image of the replaced shared information in an archive fieldon the presentation surface.
 19. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein thedevice display screen is a touch sensitive device display screen. 20.The arrangement of claim 1 wherein the presentation surface area isrepresented as a presentation surface field on the device displayscreen.
 21. The arrangement of claim 1 further including a plurality ofcommon presentation surfaces positioned within the conference space,each common presentation surface including a presentation surface area,the device processor programmed to provide a dynamic interface via thedevice display screen that is useable to create an arbitrary number ofdistinct sharing spaces on the presentation surface areas for sharinginformation content and to automatically modify the interface to includefeatures for controlling content presented in the sharing spaces as thenumber of distinct sharing spaces is altered.
 22. The arrangement ofclaim 21 wherein the user interface device is positioned in a specificorientation with respect to the common presentation surfaces and whereinthe features for controlling content presented in the sharing spacesinclude sharing features on the device display screen that aresubstantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces.
 23. Thearrangement of claim 22 wherein the sharing features include contentfield icons on the device display that are spatially aligned with thesharing spaces on the common presentation surfaces.
 24. The arrangementof claim 23 wherein the device display screen includes a central areaand a frame area that circumscribes the central area, the content fieldicons presented within the frame area.
 25. The arrangement of claim 24wherein the device processor enables a user to replace content in anyone of the sharing spaces by selecting content presented in the centralarea and dragging the content on the device display screen to one of thecontent sharing field on the display screen that is associated with thesharing space presenting the content to be replaced.
 26. The arrangementof claim 24 wherein, as the orientation of the user interface device ischanged, the device processor is programmed to alter the deviceinterface to maintain substantial alignment of the content field iconson the device display screen and the associated distinct sharing spaces.27. The arrangement of claim 24 wherein, as the orientation of the userinterface device is changed, the device processor is programmed to alterthe device interface to maintain substantial alignment of the contentfield icons on the device display screen and the associated distinctsharing spaces.
 28. The arrangement of claim 27 wherein the userinterface device includes a first user interface device, the arrangementincluding at least a second user interface device including a seconddevice display screen and a second device processor, the second deviceprocessor programmed to provide a second dynamic interface via thesecond device display screen that is also usable to create distinctsharing spaces on the presentation surface areas for sharing informationcontent and to automatically modify the second interface to includefeatures for controlling content presented in the sharing spaces createdon the presentation surface areas.
 29. The arrangement of claim 28wherein there are at least first, second and third substantially flatand rectangular common presentation surfaces, the first and thirdpresentation surfaces spaced apart along opposite lateral edges of thesecond presentation surface and each forming a 90 degree angle with thesecond common presentation surface.
 30. The arrangement of claim 28wherein there are at least first, second and third substantially flatand rectangular common presentation surfaces, the first and thirdpresentation surfaces spaced apart along opposite lateral edges of thesecond presentation surface and each forming a 90 degree angle with thesecond common presentation surface.
 31. The arrangement of claim 27wherein the device display further presents a separate sharing field foreach of the plurality of common presentation surfaces and wherein thedevice processor alters the device interface to maintain substantialalignment of the sharing fields with the common presentation surfaces asthe orientation of the user interface device is changed.
 32. Thearrangement of claim 31 wherein each of the common presentation fieldsincludes a wall mounted display screen and wherein each of the sharingfields is a wall field.
 33. The arrangement of claim 31 wherein thedevice display screen is touch sensitive.
 34. The arrangement of claim27 wherein the user interface device includes a first user interfacedevice, the arrangement including at least a second user interfacedevice including a second device display screen and a second deviceprocessor, the second device processor programmed to provide a seconddynamic interface via the second device display screen that is alsousable to create distinct sharing spaces on the presentation surfaceareas for sharing information content and to automatically modify thesecond interface to include features for controlling content presentedin the sharing spaces created on the presentation surface areas.
 35. Thearrangement of claim 27 wherein the device display further presents aseparate sharing field for each of the plurality of common presentationsurfaces and wherein the device processor alters the device interface tomaintain substantial alignment of the sharing fields with the commonpresentation surfaces as the orientation of the user interface device ischanged.
 36. The arrangement of claim 35 wherein the device displayscreen is touch sensitive.
 37. The arrangement of claim 36 wherein auser creates a new distinct sharing space by selecting a location withinthe sharing field on the device display screen.
 38. The arrangement ofclaim 37 wherein a user selects a location within the sharing field bytouching content within the central area and dragging the content to thelocation to be selected.
 39. The arrangement of claim 36 wherein a usercreates a new distinct sharing space by selecting a location on one ofthe sharing fields on the device display screen.
 40. The arrangement ofclaim 36 wherein a sharing space and the content presented within thesharing space can be moved from one location on a first commonpresentation surface to a second location on one of the commonpresentation surfaces by touching an associated content field icon onthe device display and dragging the content field icon on the displayfrom a current location to another location in one of the sharing fieldsthat is associated with the second location.
 41. The arrangement ofclaim 36 wherein a user creates a new distinct sharing space byselecting a location on one of the sharing fields on the device displayscreen.
 42. The arrangement of claim 41 wherein a sharing space and thecontent presented within the sharing space can be moved from onelocation on a first common presentation surface to a second location onone of the common presentation surfaces by touching an associatedcontent field icon on the device display and dragging the content fieldicon from a current location to another location in one of the sharingfields that is associated with the second location.
 43. The arrangementof claim 1 wherein the presentation surface area is represented as asharing field along one edge of the device display screen that isarranged along a side of a central area on the device display screen.44. The arrangement of claim 43 wherein the device display screen istouch sensitive.
 45. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein the commondisplay surface includes a touch sensitive display and wherein a usercan interact with content presented on the common display surface viatouch.
 46. The arrangement of claim 45 wherein a user can interact withthe common display via touch to add additional sharing spaces to thecommon presentation surface, the device processor modifying theinterface to present features for controlling content presented in allsharing spaces including any sharing spaces created using the commondisplay.
 47. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein the user interfacedevice includes a first user interface device, the arrangement includingat least a second user interface device including a second devicedisplay screen and a second device processor, the second deviceprocessor programmed to provide a second dynamic interface via thesecond device display screen that is also usable to create distinctsharing spaces on the presentation surface areas for sharing informationcontent and to automatically modify the second interface to includefeatures for controlling content presented in the sharing spaces createdon the presentation surface areas.
 48. The arrangement of claim 47wherein each of the interface devices includes a portable interfacedevice.
 49. The arrangement of claim 48 wherein at least the firstinterface device includes a tablet type computing device.
 50. Thearrangement of claim 47 wherein the first and second interface devicesare associated with first and second users and wherein, as content ispresented in one of the sharing spaces by one of the users, indiciadistinguishing the sharing user from other users is presented spatiallyadjacent the sharing space.
 51. A conferencing arrangement for sharinginformation within a conference space, the arrangement comprising: acommon presentation surface positioned within the conference space, thecommon presentation surface including a presentation surface area; acommon presentation surface driver; a system processor linked to thedriver, the system processor receiving information content andpresenting the information content via the common presentation surface;and a user interface device including a device display screen and adevice processor, the device processor programmed to provide a dynamicinterface via the device display screen that is usable to create anarbitrary number of distinct sharing spaces on the presentation surfacearea for sharing information content and to automatically modify theinterface to include features for controlling content presented in thesharing spaces as the number of distinct sharing spaces is altered;wherein the user interface device is positioned in a specificorientation with respect to the common presentation surface and whereinthe features for controlling content presented in the sharing spacesinclude sharing features on the device display screen that aresubstantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces; andwherein, as the orientation of the user interface device is changed, thedevice processor is programmed to alter the device interface to maintainsubstantial alignment of the sharing features on the device displayscreen and the associated distinct sharing spaces.
 52. The arrangementof claim 51 wherein the common presentation surface is a first commonpresentation surface, the arrangement including at least a second commonpresentation surface that is angled with respect to the first commonpresentation surface and that includes presentation surface area, thedynamic interface usable to create an arbitrary number of distinctsharing spaces on the presentation surface areas for sharing informationcontent.
 53. The arrangement of claim 52 wherein the first and secondcommon presentation surfaces form wall surfaces of the conference space.54. The arrangement of claim 52 further including at least a thirdcommon presentation surface that is substantially parallel to the firstpresentation surface and that forms presentation surface area.
 55. Aconferencing arrangement for sharing information within a conferencespace, the arrangement comprising: a common presentation subassemblyincluding presentation surface positioned within the conference space,the common presentation surface including presentation surface areafacing the conference space on at least two sides of the conferencespace; a common presentation surface driver; a system processor linkedto the driver, the system processor receiving information content andpresenting the information content via the common presentation surface;and a plurality of user interface devices, each user interface deviceincluding a device display screen and a device processor, the deviceprocessor programmed to provide a dynamic interface via the devicedisplay screen that is usable to modify an arbitrary number of distinctsharing spaces on the presentation surface area for sharing informationcontent, the device processor further programmed to automatically modifythe interface to include features for controlling content presented inthe sharing spaces as the number of distinct sharing spaces is alteredvia any one of the plurality of user interface devices.
 56. Thearrangement of claim 55 wherein each of the interface devices includes aportable computing device.
 57. The arrangement of claim 56 wherein eachof the interfaces includes a central area and a border area along atleast one edge of the central area, the features for controlling contentincluding a separate content sharing icon located within the border areafor each of the distinct sharing spaces.
 58. The arrangement of claim 57wherein the sharing spaces are arranged on the common presentationsurface in a first pattern and wherein the content sharing icons arearranged in a second pattern within the border area that issubstantially similar to the first pattern.
 59. The arrangement of claim56 wherein the features for controlling content in the sharing spacesinclude a separate content sharing icon for each of the distinct sharingspaces.
 60. The arrangement of claim 59 wherein the first and secondinterface devices are associated with first and second users andwherein, as content is presented in one of the sharing spaces by one ofthe users, indicia distinguishing the sharing user from other users ispresented spatially adjacent the sharing space.
 61. The arrangement ofclaim 59 wherein, as the orientation of either of the user interfacedevices is changed, the device processor in the interface device isprogrammed to alter the device interface to maintain substantialalignment of the sharing features on the device display screen and theassociated distinct sharing spaces.
 62. A conferencing arrangement forsharing information within a conference space, the arrangementcomprising: a common presentation surface positioned within theconference space, the common presentation surface including apresentation surface area including distinct sharing spaces for sharinginformation content; a common presentation surface driver; a systemprocessor linked to the driver, the system processor receivinginformation content and causing the driver to present the informationcontent via the common presentation surface; and a moveable dynamic userinterface wherein the orientation of the user interface with respect tothe sharing spaces is changeable, the interface including graphicalfeatures for controlling content presented in the sharing spacesincluding graphical sharing features that remain substantially alignedwith associated distinct sharing spaces as the interface orientation ischanged.
 63. The arrangement of claim 62 wherein the common presentationsurface includes at least first and second common presentation surfacespositioned within the conference space, the first common presentationsurface including at least a first distinct sharing space and the secondcommon presentation surface including at least a second distinct sharingspace.
 64. The arrangement of claim 63 wherein the first and secondcommon presentation surfaces form wall surfaces of the conference space.65. The arrangement of claim 63 further including at least a thirdcommon presentation surface that is substantially parallel to the firstpresentation surface and that forms presentation surface area, thedynamic interface usable to create an arbitrary number of distinctsharing spaces on the presentation surface areas for sharing informationcontent.
 66. The arrangement of claim 62 wherein the user interface is afirst user interface, the arrangement further including a second dynamicmovable user interface wherein the orientation of the second interfacewith respect to the sharing spaces is changeable, the second interfaceincluding graphical features for controlling content presented in thesharing spaces including graphical sharing features that remainsubstantially aligned with associated distinct sharing spaces as thesecond interface orientation is changed.
 67. The arrangement of claim 66further including a plurality of common presentation surfaces positionedat different locations within the conference space and wherein subsetsof sharing spaces are presented on at least a subset of the commonpresentation surfaces, each interface including graphical sharingfeatures that are substantially aligned with associated distinct sharingspaces on each of the common presentation surfaces as the interfaceorientations are changed.
 68. The arrangement of claim 62 wherein eachsharing space has similar default dimensions.
 69. The arrangement ofclaim 68 wherein the interface enables modification to the dimensions ofany of the sharing spaces.
 70. The arrangement of claim 62 wherein theinterface is useable to add additional sharing spaces to the commonpresentation surface and wherein, as sharing spaces are added to thecommon presentation surface, the sharing spaces are provided in a singlerow of adjacent sharing spaces.